Debates in Biotechnology
Debates in Biotechnology
Debates in Biotechnology
Minh Phan
Biofuels
Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gas fuel derived from recently-dead biological ma
terial, whereas fossil fuels are derived from long-dead biological material. Theoretically,
Background
biofuels can be produced from any (biological) carbon source; although, the most common
sources are photosynthetic plants. Globally, biofuels are most commonly used to power vehi-
cles and cooking stoves. Biofuel industries are expanding in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
sffdsfsdfsdfdsfsdfsdf
The main debate regarding biofuels centers around whether they are a good means to reversing
global climate change and helping replace oil, or at least reduce oil prices. Biofuels have become
increasingly attractive in recent years because they offer the possibility of both reducing green-
house gas emissions and helping replace oil. This possibility exists primarily in the use of biofuels
in vehicles and other forms of transportation that utilize petroleum products. Biofuels, there-
fore, are potentially helpful in so far as they can replace the use of petroleum in transportation.
Biofuels
and that biofuels are, thus, carbon neutral. -ses when farmers churn up new land to grow more
fuel or the food and feed displaced by biofuel crops.
In addition The destruction of natural ecosystems
— whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands
in South America — not only releases green-
house gases into the atmosphere when they are
burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet
of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions.
Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the
rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces.
Biofuels
Biofuel will help developing countries im- Biofuel has made economies of developing
prove their economy. Researchers at the Over- countries more unstable. In 2008 the British
seas Development Institute have argued that anti-poverty charity War on Want released a re-
biofuels could help to reduce poverty in the de- port linking the demand for biofuels and other
veloping world, through increased employment, ‘green’ alternatives to petroleum to violent land
wider economic growth multipliers and energy seizures taking place in Colombia. The report
price effects. With regards to the potential for outlines how the production of biofuels, specifi-
poverty reduction or exacerbation, biofuels rely cally palm oil, has led to the forced displacement
on many of the same policy, regulatory or in- of thousands of Afro-Colombians from the south-
vestment shortcomings that impede agriculture west region of Colombia. In addition, biofuel
as a route to poverty reduction. Since many of development increases demand for scarce water
these shortcomings require policy improve- resources in certain parts of South East Asia.
ments at a country level rather than a global
one, they argue for a country-by-country anal-
ysis of the potential poverty impacts of biofuels
Biofuels
and the net U.S. corn production of food for hu- in world grain consumption in 2006. Over 450
mans and feed for animals increased 34 percent. pounds of corn are needed to fill a 25-gallon tank
Contrary to claims that farmers have cut other with ethanol—enough calories to feed a person
crops to grow more corn, U.S. soybean plantings for a year. Poor people spend a higher portion of
this year are expected to be up 18 percent and their income on food, so higher food prices hurt
wheat plantings up 6 percent. U.S. farm exports them more. If a per-
are up 23 percent over last year. So while it is son in a develop- i n g
true that there is now much more corn being country spends 6 0 %
used for ethanol than ever before, there is also of their money o n
much more total corn than ever before, including food and then t h e
much more for food and feed than ever before, food prices dou- b l e ,
and still plenty of land, and room for implemen- they will experi- ence
tation of improved methods to grow yet more. immediate hard- ship.
According to the U N ,
aid organizations that buy food and send it to poor
countries are only able to send half as much food
on the same budget if prices double. But the higher
prices mean there are more people in need of aid.
References
Ethanol: A Convenient Solution to an Inconvenient Truth. Better Environmental Solutions. Dec. 2007.
http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/Ethanol_a_Convnient_Solution_to_the_Inconvenient_Truth_
report.pdf
Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change
Timothy Searchinger, Ralph Heimlich. Feb. 7, 2008 Science.
Elizabeth Rosenthal. Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat. New York Times. Feb. 2008. http://www.ny-
times.com/2008/02/08/science/earth/08wbiofuels.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issues_relating_to_biofuels#Issues
Robert Zubrin. In Defense of Biofuels. The New Atlantis. Spring 2008. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/
publications/in-defense-of-biofuels
Biofuels, Agriculture and Poverty Reduction. Overseas Development Institute. 2007. http://www.odi.org.
uk/resources/specialist/natural-resource-perspectives/resources/specialist/natural-resource-perspec-
tives107.pdf
5
Background
the early embryo. During early development, as well as later in life, various types of stem
cells give rise to the specialized or differentiated cells that carry out the specific func-
sffdsfsdfsdfdsfsdfsdf
tions of the body, such as skin, blood, muscle, and nerve cells. Over the past two de-
cades, scientists have been gradually deciphering the processes by which unspecialized
stem cells become the many specialized cell types in the body. Embryonic stem cells,
which can be derived from a very early stage in human development, have the potential
to produce all of the body’s cell types. This property makes stem cells appealing for sci-
entists seeking to create medical treatments that replace lost or damaged cells. The de-
bate over stem-cell research incorporates a number of social, ethical, and religious con-
siderations. The detailed arguments, studies, and facts of this debate are laid out below.
Does ES cells research have substantial promise for advancing public health?
Embryonic stem cells have extraordinary po- Some scientist may be “over-promising” the
tential in treatments of all kinds of diseases. Ac- benefits of embryonic stem cells research. Re-
cording to Wikipedia, stem cells could potentially searchers such as Princeton developmental biolo-
cure a variety of diseases including brain damage, gist Shirley Tilghman warns that the idea that
cancer, spinal cord injury, muscle damage, heart it was unreasonable to think that it was just a
damage, low blood supply, baldness, missing matter of a few years before we would be able to
teeth, deafness, blindness and vision impairment, transplant stem cells and cure a lot of neurologi-
and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). There are several cal disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease. She says,
recent scientific break-throughs including Hans “some of the public pronouncements in the field
Kierstead’s (UC Irvine) experiment that repairs a of stem-cell research come close to over-promis-
rat’s damaged spine with stem cell injections. In ing at best and delusional fantasizing at worst”
the American Journal of Physiology, team from
the Mayo Clinic shows the potency of embry- Embryonic stem cells treatments will be ex-
onic stem cells in rebuilding an infracted heart. pensive since they have to be individualized.
According to Christopher Scott, director of Stan-
Potential social impact through a cure for ford’s Program on Stem Cells in Society, custom-
chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s or diabe- ized treatments that can’t rely on economies of
tes. A study from the ADA point- scale are likely to be very expensive. For a stem
ed out the poten- tial impact cell regimen, the tissue in which the stem cells
a cure to dia- betes reside must be biopsied—perhaps more than
would have not- i n g once. For any cell therapy the methods for isolat-
that there are 20.8 ing, growing, and expanding the cultures must be
million Ameri- c a n perfected—complications not yet perfected for em-
children and adults with bryonic stem cells. Like any transplant, the cells
diabetes (roughly 6% of the must be free of contamination with unwanted vi-
population). The esti- m a t e d ral, bacterial, or chemical agents. To avoid “home-
total financial cost for diabetes in the U.S., in grown” rotocols and to ensure quality, companies
6
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_treatments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryonic_stem_cell
Scott, Christopher. Stem Cell Now: From the Experiment That Shook the World to the New Politics of Life.
New York: New York. P.I Press, 2007
Gibbs, Nancy. Stem Cells: The Hope and The Hype. Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/arti-
cle/0,9171,1220538,00.html
Cyranoski, David. Simple switch turns cells embryonic. Nature 6 June 2007. http://www.nature.com/na-
ture/journal/v447/n7145/full/447618a.html
Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/
science/06cnd-cell.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/aug2000/od-23.htm
“Deriving Stem Cells Without Killing Embryo”. Medical News Today. 2006. http://www.medicalnewstoday.
com/healthnews.php?newsid=50329
8
Background
ing and animal breeding) or mutation breeding. GM foods were first put on the mar-
ket in the early 1990s. Typically, genetically modified foods are plant products: soy-
sffdsfsdfsdfdsfsdfsdf
bean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil, but animal products have been developed.
Genetic engineering begins with the identification and isolation of a gene which expresses
a desirable trait, with the aid of restriction enzymes. Then a recipient plant is selected,
and the gene is inserted and incorporated into its genome through a vector such as agro-
bacterium, through a gene gun shooting an elemental particle covered in plasmid DNA,
electroporation, or a virus. Once part of the recipient, the newly inserted gene becomes
part of the genome of the recipient and is regulated in the same way as its other genes.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_foods