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Detection
of
Genetic
Diseases-
Human beings suffer from several hundred genetic diseases almost all of which are produced by single recessive mutations.
Many of these ailments can be managed but there is no cure for any of them, except for the fast emerging option of gene therapy. Their incidence can be minimised by an early detection of the afflicted foetuses, which are then aborted.
Therefore, when a woman gets pregnant the probability of her having a child suffering from a genetic disorder is estimated based on the histories of her and her husband's families, and from the knowledge of previous births, if any. In case of risk, further investigation is carried out for a clear cut diagnosis.
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(ii) After 20 yeas, in June 1992, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), popularly described as ‘Rio Earth Summit, was help in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where heads of the states from 166 countries participated to examine the issues involved and the solutions possible.
(iii) The latest conference, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in Johannesburg (South Africa) during August 26 to September 4, 2002 to assess global change since the above Rio Earth Summit.
While on the one hand, there is an increasing problem of the conservation of nature and natural resources. Both these problems are receiving constant attention of environmentalists. Among implications, there is also an alarm due to release of genetically engineered organisms in the atmosphere and due to release of effluents from biotechnological companies, so that the environmentalists are having a debate on the effects of developments in biotechnology on the environment.
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There is also a debate on the safety of the use of the products of biotechnology, an area described as biosafety. Among application, on the other hand, efforts are also being made to use biotechnology to protect the environment from pollution and to conserve natural resources. At a time, when the gap between those who have plenty and those who do not have even the minimum is widening, both ends of this spectrum, i.e. plenty and poverty, are contributing to environmental degradation.
It is, therefore, necessary that the developing and developed countries jointly find a path of development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability, of future generations to meet their needs (World Commission on Environment and Development). Efforts are being made to achieve this objective through a variety of approaches, and biotechnology is certainly one of them. In this chapter and the next four chapters, environmental; implications and applications of biotechnology for environment will be discussed.
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In recent years, we have witnessed a debate on the environmental implications of biotechnology. In this debate, risks involved in the use of biotechnological approaches have often been emphasized (or even overemphasized) and the adequate guidelines for safety have been suggested ad enforced by law. However, there have also been rapid developments in the applications of biotechnology, which may help in controlling environment pollution, thus giving a cleaner and sustainable environment in future. According to one estimate in USA, the US market for environmental clean-up applications was expected to grow at an average rate of 17%, while that for microbes and enzymes was expected to grow by only 7% every year.
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Besides others, these applications for environment clean-up include biotreatment methods for effluents and toxic wastes (this subject is described as bioremediation and is discussed in the next). However, these bioremediation treatments, it is feared, could be problematic, where they involve deliberate or accidental release of genetically modified microbes to the environment. These applications of biotechnology in environment management.
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