Notes from Chapter 8: Society and Technological Change

The ideas and examples referenced below are notes compiled by Robert Keel from his reading of Volti, Rudi. 2014. Society and Technological Change. 7th edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. They are intended for classroom use.

Genetic Technologies

The Genetic Fix

• Medicine is badly in need of technology that is more than palliative.
• Fundamental scientific insight behind new medical technologies--the Gene.
• Gene manipulation became possibility in this century as new information emerged: Mendel and inheritance, discovery of the cell nucleus (microscope)--contains chromosomes--the gene.
• Watson and Crick (1953): The Double Helix.
• The Genome:
  • Humans have around 20,000 genes.
  • Arrayed along 46 chromosomes.
  • Genome--long chains of DNA: about 3 billion "letters." Code to produce proteins (building blocks of life).
  • Epigenes: Genes act in context of the environment (and this)(YouTube)
• Gene manipulation seen as possible way of curing disease. (1970s--separate and isolate portions of DNA)
• Genetic Manipulation has LOADS of problems associated with it:
  1. Altering genes can affect succeeding generations-- with no end in sight.
  2. Errors can be made.
  3. Strong moral implications.
  4. A poll of the top CEO’s in the 1990s reported that (of all people) Bill Gates was the only one who unreservedly opposed gene engineering. He was asked, "If you could clone yourself, would you?"
  5. Gene Fix for Zika? (see also)

The Commercialization of DNA Technology: Genes and Patents

• Human Genome Project began in 1990 (DOE and NIH).
  • Rough draft in 2001 and complete sequence in 2003.
  • Celera Genetics (private company involved)
• Bio-technologies based on genetic discoveries have emerged as commercially significant enterprises.
• 1980: U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Diamond v. Chakrabarty) human made organisms entitled to full patent protection (oil eating bacterium).
  • 2003- 3,933 patents ($1.3 billion in licensing income)
• Although profit is a motive, bio-technology not solely driven by free enterprise.
• 1987 U.S. government spent $2.7 billion on bio-tech research, private industry spent $1.5-2 billion
• Patents:
  • Permission fees.
  • Even for finding who owns a patent.
  • "Patent stacking" (single sequence is covered by separate patents)
  • Thousands filed each year--lots of money at stake (lengthy courtroom cases, too).
  • Issue of public interest being preserved (AMA opposes patenting medical procedures).
• Editing DNA.

Bioengineering on the Farm

Genetically Modified Crops (GM crops):

• Selective breeding for centuries (lengthy process, hit or miss).
• Now--issue of dealing with shortages. "Green Revolution" of the 1960s leveled out, as has overall global grain production.
• World population growing, affluence increasing--desire for meat (more grain and water).
• Most modifications do not directly increase yield--control costs (weeds, pests, etc.).
  • GM to reduce increase resistance to herbicides.
    • Application of herbicide will not harm plant.
    • Allows for the use of safer herbicides.
    • May allow for no herbicide (crops produce their own: cotton and Bacillus thuringiensis).
      • Monsanto's "New Leaf Potato."
  • GM can alter nutritional value of crops.
    • Strains of rice high in vitamin A to prevent blindness.
  • Drought resistance.
  • Edible vaccines.
  • Conservation tillage (reduce plowing).
• GM crops are major portion of global production.
  • 2006: 10.3 million farmers using on 252 million acres.
  • USA is largest user: 57.7 million hectares planted.
  • Four crops dominate: soybeans (93%), canola (82%), cotton (79%), and corn (52%).
  • 60% of processed foods in US markets--some GM.
• Resistance--50% grown here in USA. Europe--moratorium on use.
• Issue: changing genetic make-up of plants--long term effect?
  • Allergens or toxins?
  • Cross-pollination: "super weeds."
  • Livestock use leads to human use.
  • Too much production (industrialized world) leads to decreased prices--impact on small farmers?
  • Poor countries--cost of seeds? (terminator seeds).
  • Monoculture.
  • Is malnutrition a factor of agricultural technology or socio-political practices (inequality, war, etc.).
  • What are the actual risks?
  • Regulations?
  • Labeling?

Genetic Mapping and Screening

• Pre- and post-natal screenings--how much do we want to know and what should be done based on what we find out?
• Adult genetic screening.
• DNA and crime investigation:
  • Need for prior records.
  • How to collect records and what to do with them?
    • Samples from the innocent?
    • Overturning convictions (by 2008: 243 convictions overturned, 17 on death row).
• Mandatory DNA collection and "unreasonable search and seizure?"
• Private versus public collection?
• Doctors and the usefulness of DNA screening for patient care, yet safety and privacy concerns.
• Questionable right of employers and insurance companies to require release of records.
  • Most states have laws to prevent discrimination and deny employment--yet..?

Cloning

• "A clone is an organism that has been derived from another organism through asexual reproduction." (page 152)
• A genetic duplicate.
• Cloning dates back to the 1950s: frogs.
• 1996: Dolly the sheep in Scotland (first "higher organism").
  • Genetic material from the cells of one sheep implanted into another's egg.
  • Since the material contained all the chromosomes, no fertilization necessary--rather, an electric shock started cell division.
  • 13 out of 277 "shocked eggs" implanted into other sheep--12 miscarried. Dolly born on July 5, 1996. She died February 14, 2003.
  • Original goal--genetic modification of cells to produce valuable drugs and to conduct research into genetic diseases.
• Issue of human cloning (we are not all that different from sheep)(Human Cloning Foundation).
  • Issue of maintaining genetic diversity.
  • Who will do it and do we want them to?
  • Cloning talented to provide children to others?
  • Cloning for organ replacement?
  • Cloning from the cells of the dead?
  • Some governments have banned research into human cloning (USA--no federal funding).
  • However, it cannot be prevented--perhaps the new eugenics (creation of "super-humans").
  • Additionally--clones are not necessarily "identical" (identical twins, for example and cloned animals often quite different).
  • We simply do not understand the entire process and environmental factors are also at play.
  • So, lots of questions and concerns. Human cloning is still "hypothetical."

Stem Cells

• Treatment of disease with the use of embryonic stem cells.
  • Appear early in embryonic development and have "pluripotency" (can become any of the 220 cells in the human body).
  • Currently used treat leukemia.
  • Perhaps organ regeneration?
• Recently, researchers have demonstrated the ability to convert ordinary cells into pluripotent stem cells.
• Current stem cells harvested from embryos produced through in-vitro fertilization, but not implanted
• Scientists may also be able to harvest stem cells from embryos treated with the genetic materials of others.
• Core issue: use of embryos, when does "life" begin.
• President Bush banned federal funding in 2001 (unless research used in-vitro fertilization, and informed consent from donors).
• Only 15 "lines" available for research. Other research problems based on federal regulations (cannot be associated with any other research receiving federal funds)
• 2009: President Obama lifted the restrictions.
• 2013: 58% approval of embryonic stem cell research. 75% approve non-embryonic research.
• Issue of how to distribute limited supplies or to allow cultivation and commodification of stem cells?

Genetic Intervention and Ethics

• Few technologies have aroused as much debate as genetic engineering has.
• Eugenics--the attempt to perfect humanity through the reinforcing of "desirable" traits and the suppression of "undesirable" ones (Nazi Germany, USA, too!). Visit the "Eugenics Archive."
• Genetics does not contain all the answers for solving disorders.
• A gene that malfunctions under one environment may be fine in other circumstances.
• We cannot always identify the "problem" gene.
• Not all disease are genetically caused (Alcoholism??).
• The "genetic fix" is seductive, maybe it can explain deviant behavior as well as disease of the body.
• Edward O. Wilson: "Volitional Evolution?" (see also)
• Genetically Modified Babies.

BUT,

"Fastening upon genetic endowments to the exclusion of everything else exemplifies the naïve belief that science has all the answers and that technology offers the best solutions for what troubles us as individuals and as members of society."(page 159)

Questions (page 159):

1. What are the pros and cons of patenting genes? Is it legitimate to treat specific genes or portions of genes like other inventions eligible for a patent?
2. Genetically modified foods are sometimes derided as "Frankenfoods." Is this a fair way to characterize them? Do you have any qualms about consuming genetically modified foods? Why?
3. Most specialists are of the opinion that there are no technical barriers to human cloning. Although no legitimate agency is likely to financially support human reproductive cloning, it could be funded by an individual seeking to perpetuate himself or herself. Should such a practice be forbidden, with stiff penalties attached? If so, how would such a ban be enforced?
4. Gene-based therapies can now be used to successfully treat cystic fibrosis and a few other diseases, and more applications of this technology may be expected in the future. If they become available, should there be encouragement (financial and otherwise) for all gene therapies? Should they be used to treat "deficiencies" like premature baldness, or short stature? Who should be empowered to decide if these therapies should be developed and applied?
5. For many people, the long-standing "nature vs. nurture" debate has tilted in the direction of the former. Why has this happened? Are you more inclined to give primacy to one over the other? Is this dichotomy even a useful way of evaluating the contributions of genetic endowments and environmental influences?
6. What does Edward O. Wilson mean by "volitional evolution"? Is it just a synonym for eugenics? Is it something that should be pursued?
   

Chapter 9

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/280/soctechchange/soctech8.htm
Owner: Robert O. Keel: rok@umsl.edu
Last Updated: Monday, March 21, 2016 11:25