The Bio-ethics

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• The Bio-ethics

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In this presentation

• Part 1 Bio-ethical Issues
• Part 2 Bio-chemical Warfare
• Part 3 Patenting Problems
• Part 4 Bio-sciences IPR
• Part 5 Future Dark or Bright

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Part1

• Bio-ethical Issues

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Genetics and ethics

• The release of individual genomic sequences could
  raise a number of ethical issues such as
• Maintaining the confidentiality of genetic code
• Insurance of individuals may be difficult
• Employment avenues could get bleak
• Selecting a life partner could be cumbersome

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Problems with introduction of new technologies

• Patenting
• Intellectual property rights
• Human psychology

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To do or not to do??

• One nucleotide mistake in the 8000 pairs in a
  gene can cause cancer such as BRCA1
• Pre-plantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a
  technique wherein the genetic disease acquired
  from either parent could be detected much before
  the embryonic development takes place in the
  mothers womb
• Whether to permit such diagnosis in future or not
  remains a big question as this could lead to
  production of test tube babies and clones in mass
  scale

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People are divided on many issues

• Right to screen the embryo genetically?
• Genetics should be only for medical purposes?
• When fertilization is done on petri dish through
  IVF then why not cloning?
• Should stem cell research that provides lot of
  relief to patients (but can be catalytic for
  artificial organ development) be banned?

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Designer babies and architect parents

• Does the concept of designer babies seems
  logical?
• This could lead to designer babies and instantly
  parents would become architects
• Producing kids would become a commercial activity
  having more of engineered processes
• Presently, people strongly disagree to this
• Should we design children just as we
  design/customize cars and houses?
• Shouldnt we leave to God to decide for Himself??

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Cloning

• The process of putting nucleus taken from any
  cell of body into an embryonic/egg cell
• This is followed by a charged shock that joins
  the two (nucleus containing the genetic material
  and the nucleus in the egg)
• Thereafter, cells starts multiplying through cell
  division, by mitosis, automatically
• Dolly, the sheep, is the first ever clone, died
  prematurely
• Cloning can leave a number of ethical questions
  unanswered in the 21st century

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The West argued, the Africans died

• The cloning scenario is only highlight of a world
  wide debate about genetic engineering of animals,
  vegetables and every thing except minerals
• With religion, green fanaticism and trade
  interests getting involved, facts are hard to
  separate from agendas
• The real biotech tragedy of 2002 Starvation
  deaths in Zambia because of an US-EU row over
  providing biotech (cloned) corn for famine relief

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Part2

• Bio-chemical Warfare

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Biological warfare weapons

• Anthrax
• Cutaneous
• Inhalation
• Intestinal
• Smallpox
• Botulinum toxin
• Bubonic plague

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Chemical warfare weapons

• Nerve gas agents
• Sarin
• Tabun
• VX gas
• Blistering agents
• Lewsite gas
• Mustard gas
• Choking agents
• Chlorine
• Phosgene

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Effects of bio-chemical warfare

• Respiratory failure
• Muscle contraction
• Paralysis
• Skin blisters and burns
• Choking and cough leading to death
• Formation of painless ulcers
• Seizures

• Abdominal pains, severe diarrhoea
• Vomiting with blood
• Rashes and boils
• Flu like fever
• Blurred double vision
• Nausea
• Fever, loss of appetite, vomiting

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Part3

• Patenting Problems

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Issues with patenting

• New localized law based on the acceptance of
  society/nation as well as the Govt.
• Global scenario to be kept in view
• Absurd ideas, techniques and material often
  obtain patents without difficulty
• Patenting of BRCA1 (breast cancer) gene
• Neem and neem based products
• Basmati rice

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Patent what??

• Patenting cosmetics, drugs, technology, etc. is
  acceptable everywhere but not of diseases, genes,
  air, water, etc.
• Especially the concept of patenting gene
  sequences is raising eyebrows as it is an absurd
  idea but a number of researchers and drug
  companies are doing it

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Patenting in EU

• The EU Biotech Directive
• The French Bioethics Bill

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Part4
Bio-sciences IPR issues
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Patent vs. IPR

• The issue of patenting and that of intellectual
  property rights should not be intermingled
  together, though both have a greater degree of
  overlapping meaning

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Some right some wrong(kabhi ha kabni na)

• The fight will always go on should the
  technology and ideas be protected under IPR or
  patenting
• Some decisions will prove to be correct and will
  be acceptable, whereas some will not be accepted
  as happens with the introduction of every new
  technology or concept
• Recall history of computers, space technology,
  cloning, etc. for more information

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Part5
Genetically Modified Crops
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Genetically modified cotton

• Genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton contains Cry
  1 Ac gene
• Higher number of bolls, reduced number of sprays
  for control of bollworms and higher yields
  harvested so far
• Bt cotton is grown in Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP,
  AP, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

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Genetically modified mustard

• If approved, Indian mustard will be the first
  genetically-modified edible crop in India
• Packaging and labeling as per International
  standards is impossible in India since
• Mustard leaves are sold as vegetables at every
  street corner
• 90 percent of mustard oil is old loose in the
  country
• Labeling and packaging will increase cost

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How safe are the GM crops?

• Critics say that inserting genes into plants is a
  new science and may have unforeseen side-effects
  on a plants biochemistry, such as destroying its
  natural qualities and creating natural imbalances
• Cross pollination between GM crops and nature
  cause unwanted outcome
• It will also lead to creation of super-weeds,
  which will be resistant to herbicides

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Do we really need them?

• Contamination of environment
• Multinationals will hold monopoly on hybrid seeds
  in the future
• Farmers will be forced to buy new seeds from big
  corporations every year
• Even GM fodder/animal feed is in market

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Terminator seeds

• Seeds that do not germinate, which means they
  cannot be saved and planted again
• Hybrid seeds function almost the same way

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Gene jumping

• It can result in transfer of genetically induced
  traits of one organism to related species like
  tomato, cabbage, radish, cauliflower
• Genetically engineered or modified plants contain
  genes taken from bacteria, virus, other plants or
  animals
• Examples
• Corn scorpion Soyabean cow
• Tomato pig virus Strawberry fish
• Cabbage rat Rice human

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Part6
Future Dark or Bright
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What to do next

• Present day focus is mainly on life style drugs
  and diseases like can cancer, AIDS, diabetes,
  etc.
• There are numerous other areas and diseases
  waiting to be explored
• Diabetes, cancer and heart disease has remained
  the biggest concerned of 20th century and a
  greatest challenge for 21st century

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What is coming in near future

• Development of specific organs such as eyes,
  heart, kidney, etc. is already around the corner
  and spare organs would be available in about
  5-6 years time
• The human cloning activity is under process and
  very soon we may hear about its success, on lines
  similar to Dolly, the sheep

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Future bio-computing or bioinformatics

• Highly sophisticated software for
• Mining genetic data of numerous species
• Efficient analysis tools
• Massive servers and cluster computers (clusters
  of 1000 and above computers)
• High performance standalone computers
• Massive storage devices (of the order of hundreds
  of TB)

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Behold! The future is

• Very soon a newly born baby shall be discharged
  from the hospital with a CD containing the DNA
  sequence for the entire genome
• It would become possible to detect genetic
  disorders at any stage of life and checked
  whether they have any hereditary links or not
• It is sure to find these concepts realized but it
  may take some time to bring them to reality
• In another 30-40 years, people would be able to
  see and browse through their genomic sequence

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Future risks

• Difficulty in maintaining the confidentiality of
  genetic code as there would be lot of problems
  with publicly available DNA sequences of
  individuals
• Insurance companies may ask for this unique
  code or at least a clear analysis report
  hereafter
• Employment avenues may become much bleak if the
  code contains any damage, as resumes may contain
  a clear analysis report
• Physically and mentally impaired persons may find
  it extremely difficult to function in a high
  competitive engineering environment

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Future risks

• Imparting and pursuing education would grow more
  difficult with bio-sciences and genomic sciences
  occupying compulsory position in the curriculum
• Genetic based racism would increase due to the
  ability to cluster the people on the basis of
  genomic data
• Bio-terrorism will also have a new chapter added
  to it in the form of genomic terrorism wherein it
  would be possible to manipulate with others
  genetic data or actual genes

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Future risks

• Selecting a life partner could be cumbersome as
  it would become possible to compare the sequences
  before marriage and properties of likes-dislikes
  could be easily established
• Many states have already made matrimonial
  registration mandatory, which includes a HIV/AIDS
  clearance certificate of both partners

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• Scientific work bring forward both good and bad
  issues. They have to be dealt with by everyone
  keeping in view other dimensions such as logical,
  ethical and legal

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It is a fact that

• Till some stability is obtained, we have to take
  risks, only then we would know of the outcome or
  else how do we know about the outcome or how do
  the field grow
• As long as it is not known as to what gene will
  do what, all medical treatments can not be assured

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But still

• Elders say that the future is perfect!!!