ShmoopTube

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[ whoosh ]

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We speak student!

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[ whoosh ]

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Molecular Genetics

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Biotechnology

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A la Shmoop

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We're talking biology with Dr. Ruth Tennen,

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and we're gonna talk now about biotechnology.

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So, Ruth, tell us -- give us a good definition for what we mean.

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'Cause biotechnology can be, probably, many, many things.

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Give us a good definition.

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What is biotechnology?

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So, in the case that I usually think about it,

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biotechnology is using organisms like bacteria and yeast

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for useful purposes other than what they normally do.

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Got it. Okay, fair enough.

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Give us some examples.

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Like, you know, making medicine...

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...talked about insulin and stuff.

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- Yep. - Making crops and so on.

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Give us some other areas where biotechnology

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is being used today and it actually is working.

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Yeah, so, definitely making genetically modified crops.

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So, for example, there's something called golden rice,

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which is a rice variety.

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They added a gene so that - or, a series of genes -

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so that it makes vitamin A.

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So it makes, basically, the rice more nutritious.

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So that's one thing, kind of, genetically modifying plants.

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Making medicines...

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[ cheering ]

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Making -- You can make bacteria that might eat oil.

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That would be helpful for oil spills.

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There's all sorts of --

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And there's huge international consortia that are, kind of, trying to figure out,

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"How can we combine different interesting genes to make

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bacteria do useful things for us?"

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But what I know

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a lot of people seem to worry about

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is that when we genetically modify things

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using biotechnology that we don't know what

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the after effects are.

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So, for example, adding vitamin A to rice.

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Are we then replacing rice's resistance to some virus?

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Or some other thing that it has that we don't know about

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and couldn't know about until it's 400 generations

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of replication down the line

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and then it comes back to bite us?

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[ growling ]

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And there's, like, all these Hollywood movies that, you know,

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you read about where it ends up in zombie land.

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[ ominous music ]

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So how does that work?

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Like how should we think about that in a rational way,

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not by journalists from the left or the right,

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you know, trying to get a rating.

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Is biotechnology dangerous?

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In terms of unforeseen negative consequences,

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there are always safety issues whenever you're

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genetically manipulating things.

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Usually, in the lab, there are safeguards.

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So, the bacteria we manipulate in the lab would not

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be able to survive outside of the lab anyway,

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so that wouldn't cause a problem.

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[ evil laugh ]

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There's really no scientific evidence that genetically modified crops

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or things like that cause real damage, so...

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Then why is there so much political, you know,

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blabber about all that stuff?

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I think part of it is that it's kind of

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just like the "yuck" factor.

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It's kind of a weird thing.

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People shouldn't be playing God.

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They shouldn't be doing things like this.

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And then there's also obviously, like,

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corporate interests coming in.

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[ growling ]

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What would the lobby be to say,

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"No, don't use biotechnology to make better rice"?

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Yeah, I think it's like, sometimes small farmers

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might not want to be beholden to Monstanto

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to get genetically modified crops.

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Things like that.

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[ mooing ]

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And for all you future lawyers out there,

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note that there's no scientific evidence

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that GMOs as a whole

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damage human health or the environment.

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But don't just take one expert's opinion.

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Get Googling and read all about the subject

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if you're interested in learning more.

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[ whoop ]

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What is biotechnology?

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In what areas do we use biotechnology?

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Is biotechnology dangerous?

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[ growling ]

Full Transcript