Genetic Engineering

A Powerful and Awesome Skill.

In 1982 scientists took the gene that produces human insulin and inserted it into E. coli, a microorganism that lives in intestines. Genetic engineering, "the most powerful and awesome skill acquired by man since the splitting of the atom," had harnessed the hereditary mechanisms of bacteria. Genetic engineers manipulated bacterial genes in an effort to produce new medicines and cures for human diseases. These bacterial microorganisms became capable of manufacturing human insulin for diabetics, human growth hormone for dwarfism, and the antiviral-anticancer drug interferon. Also known as "gene splicing" and "recombinant DNA," genetic engineering showed promise for producing important new vaccines and even safer older vaccines. There were hopes that the quality of life could be improved by manipulating human genes once the complete set of genetic instructions on human DNA (called the human genome) was...

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