BENEFITS AND POTENTIAL HAZARDS OP GENETIC ENGINEERING - REPORT OF A ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the benefits and potential hazards of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering helps in the growth of knowledge of biological processes. This includes (1) structure of genes and gene complexes in chromosomes, (2) expression of genes, (3) cell differentiation and cell aging, and (4) pathogenesis of human, animal, and plant diseases.The potential hazards of genetic engineering are (1) medical and veterinary microbial diseases, including new pathogenic viral recombinants, transformation of nonpathogenic microorganisms into pathogenic ones, and transfer of known or unknown genetic sequences for toxins and resistance factors against antibiotics, and (2) genetic transformation of man and animals by transfer of known or unknown genetic sequences.