Mendel’s Minions is a team of six Trinity College students working together on an Information Systems blogging project. Our team consists of myself (Kerry), Katie, Becky, Adam, Rob and Paraic.
Information Systems is an extremely interesting discipline to study and to learn about. For our blog, we have decided to write about the complex and continuously evolving information system that is Human Genetics. Genes are made up of DNA, which act as instructions to the body to make proteins. In relation to information systems, the genes could be considered to be the information system and the DNA acts as the code to instruct the information system what to do. In using Aristotle’s four causes we could describe the system as follows: Materia – DNA, Forma – Double Helix DNA structures, Efficiens – the environment, Telos – passing on of features from parents to offspring. Taking the environment as the agent for change, for example, a child may inherit genes for tallness, but if the child’s diet lacks the correct nutrients, the genes may not be expressed (O’ Callaghan, 2009).
Theories and studies in human genetics have a long history. Ancient Greek literature can even be found to contain observations on the inheritance of physical traits in human beings. The history of human genetics as a theory-based science began in 1865, with a man called Gregor Mendel, known as the father of genetics. Mendel carried out numerous experiments on garden pea plants and resulted in two basic laws of inheritance (called Mendels first and second laws). His findings were ignored until 1900, when a number of researchers discovered the significance of his studies. Amongst these researchers were Garrod (1902) and Pauling (1949). Concepts appropriated from human genetics have often influenced social attitudes and introduced the eugenics movement (Motulsky, 2010). One such topic is that of human genetic engineering, our chosen focus for this blog.
Gregor Mendel Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Genetic engineering is the artificial manipulation or alteration of genes. Many of the developments in genetic modification are available and continue to be available mainly to the wealthy West. With our greater knowledge and mapping of genes (see the Human Genome Project), we can already see gene profiling, therapy, and modification taking place in plants and animals, including humans.
Increasingly, medical practitioners are being able to predict from particular genes the health of an individual. This has led and will continue to lead to more and more knowledge about the pre-born child and wider options for treating disease. However, this also brings untold risks. For instance, it may lead to higher insurance policies for giving birth to people with suspected ‘sick genes’ or the engineering of designer babies. In essence, these new ‘sciences’ bring many new unknown potentials that we may well have to live with in the future (Macionis, Plummer, 2012).
This blog will not only focus on the technology and research that has been done on genetic engineering, but we will also look at the ethical and political repercussions that arise from it. Genetic engineering has a lot of negative connotations and we will discuss these along with positive findings that have come from the research that has been done. We chose this topic because human genetics, in particular genetic engineering, is something which all of us find extremely interesting. In the words of Rothman (1998), ‘the gene is an icon of our time’.
To begin, lets take a look at a timeline of some of the key events of the ‘new reproduction’ that have taken place in the UK:
- 1978: Birth of Louise Brown: the first test-tube baby
- 1982: Warnock Committee – advised on ethical issues around new reproduction
- 1985: Surrogacy Arrangements Act – banned commercial surrogacy in the UK
- 1987: The Pope condemned the new technologies (in his Instruction and Respect for Human Life).
- 1990’s: Growth of stem cell research, infertility research
- 1990: Human Fertilization and Embryology Act
- 1991: Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority established (HFEA)
- 1996-7: The Dolly story involving a ‘cloned’ sheep
- 2000: President George W.Bush outlawed cloning
- 2003: Death of Dolly
- 2007: Debate on human-animal hybrids developed by HFEA
- 2009: President Barack Obama reversed the Bush decision in his first 100 days: ‘medical miracles do not happen simply by accident’
(Timetable from Sociology a Global Introduction)
So those are some of the key events that you may remember reading and hearing about. In this blog we will be taking a look at what is happening out there at the moment that is really interesting us. We will be updating our blog regularly with research and opinions on developments from the world of human genetic engineering. That’s it for now. Thanks for reading 🙂
References:
Macionis, J J. Plummer, K. (5th Ed.) (2012) Sociology a Global Introduction. Harlow England, Pearson Education Limited
Motulsky, A. G (2010) Vogel and Motulsky’s Human Genetics, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp.13-29
O’ Callaghan, M (2009) Leaving Certificate Biology, Edco
Mendels Minions 