Genetic Milking: Good Or Bad?

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Since DNA was discovered in 1935, humankind has made incredible bounds in the field of genetics. Recently scientists from the National Taiwan University's Department of Animal Science and Technology have discovered a way to make pigs glow in the dark by using the genetic material of a jellyfish. What they did was extract the genetic material of a jellyfish and inject it into the embryos of pigs in the hopes that the pigs would be born green, and they were. The three pigs that they were successful on were born with a green tint to them in the sunlight, and in the dark, glowed completely. To some, this story sounds more like a more sophisticated version of Frankenstein than actual science, but in theory humans have been doing this kind of thing since we started farming. When farmers in the 17th century bred their two best milking cows together to produce a third cow extra proficient at milking, they were doing something a little like this. At the root of it all, both the farmer from the 17th century and the scientists from the 21st are partaking in some form of genetic engineering. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), genetic engineering refers to “a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or novel …show more content…
Right now, the only Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that are allowed for human consumption or human use are plants. They include corn, cotton, rice, soybean, squash, potato, etc. And although these GMOs are being sold nationwide, they still pose a number of risks because of their unnatural nature. Scientists are not exactly certain to what extent an organism is altered by the intrusion of foreign genetic material or what kind of long term effects human consumption of a GMO poses. Right now the risks that are discussed are the risks of

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