"In Greek myth, an chimera was a part lion, part goat, part dragon that lived in Lycia; in real life, it's an animal customized with genes of different species. In reality, it could be a human-animal mixture that could result in horror for the scientific community. In myth the chimera was taken down by the warrior Bellerophon, the biotech version faces platoons of lawyers, bioethicists, and biologists" (Hager).

In this paper, I am going to discuss what has already been done, the unethical side of genetics, and what will happen in the future if we continue to tinker. Genetics pose a major problem to the modern day world. With the deteriorating conditions of the earth today, the use of genetics will further break down our fragile planet.

As of 1998, many experiments have been done in the field of genetics, in the next section, I will discuss a few.

First, genetics came into the public view in the early 1970's when a scientist named Paul Berg began experimenting with a strain of E.coli bacteria called SV40. (Tagliaferro 69) This was the public beginning to the strug

gle surrounding genetics. Berg was not very intelligent about the way he conducted his tests, and he was forced to stop, until the National Institute of Health determined that SV40 was harmless to humans. (Tagliaferro 70)

Goldberg, William. "Genetics: Tomorrow and Beyond." US News and World Reports, 7 May 1998: 41.

The next issues are over the rights, and what rights the creators have. "While the 13th amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery can be interpreted as supporting all life, and denying who or what ever made them the right to control them" (Goldberg). According to the 13th amendment the creature should have the rights of an American citizen, and the creator would have no control over it. This exception would help total human clones, but what if it was a human-animal chimera? Would it have rights, or would it be an animal? The whole situation is murky, I hope that we never come to a point where we have to answer these questions, but only time will tell.

Second, there are many concerns that surround the field of genetic engineering. These concerns range from moral, to environmental, and the ethics that are involved. These concerns have a lot of backing, and are very severe.

There were a few small advancements from 1991 to 1997, when a group of British scientists cloned Dolly the sheep. The scientists used part of the original animals DNA, and they expanded upon it to where they had the animal's entire genetic make-up. This procedure shocked the world, in being it was the first known successful cloning. This experiment raised eyebrows, and it upset many people because of the moral lines it crossed. If we can clone sheep, why don't we clone super humans? This question outraged many, and excited many others. In the United States, human cloning is controlled by teach state government, but on a whole, the majority of the states have outlawed cloning experiments, and for good reason. Cloning is a dangerous area that if not controlled properly could result in the end of the human race, as we now know it. "Stuart Newman, a cell biologist at New York Medical College has applied for a patent on ways to make human-animal chimeras. Newman doesn't want to do it. He just wants to make sure no one else does, either" (Hager).

Watson, George. "Genetic Tinkering: What are the Consequences?". New Age Scientific Procedures. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Goldberg According, Medical College, Food Drug, , Asilomar Conference, SV40 Tagliaferro, Institute Health, genetic engineering, Paul Berg, Genetics September, Roadblock Newsweek, asilomar conference, genetically engineered, human race, genetically engineered animals, engineering york, concerns surround, tagliaferro 70, product testing, answer questions, genetic engineering york, plants pesticides,
Approximate Word count = 1868
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)