Genetic engineering is the “altering of genetic material”, typically deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA (Parker 4). This is a relatively new science that has only been studied “for the past 150 years” (Hodge xix). Today it can clearly be seen as a success in the agriculture business because of our year round access to a multitude of fruits, vegetables, and other crops. However, the use of genetic engineering on humans is a controversial issue which forces “politicians and the public [to] face tremendously important choices about how genetic engineering...should be used” (Hodge xx). In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the practice of human genetic engineering is the basis of their society but it is still a controversial issue in parts of our …show more content…
Even though he “is sympathetic to those who would use genetic engineering to alleviate sickness”, former biologist and Human Genetics Alert director David King believes that “genetic engineering is a risky endeavor with no assurance of safety”. Gene altering can be tested on rats and monkeys millions of times but how it will affect a human will not be known until you actually test it on one. Also, not everyone is the same. Messing with someone’s genetic makeup could produce negative effects. There are even negative effects considered in the novel Brave New World. One of the main characters, Lenina, is a vaccination worker at the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre and after having a stressful day “she...couldn’t remember” if she had given one of the embryos “its sleeping sickness injection” (Huxley 187). After one person’s careless mistake, it caused a helpless person to be vulnerable to the African sleeping sickness disease. People would have to be able to determine how genes will be altered effectively and without error. Machines break down and people make mistakes so how would this be