Disadvantages of artificial selection is that it is inhumane, can cause mutations or produce new problems. An example of the inhumane process is the new way of breeding chickens. These chickens are produced without fethers. Critics say the feather-free chickens will suffer more than normal birds. Males might be unable to mate, because they cannot flap their wings, and "naked" chickens of both sexes are more susceptible to parasites, mosquito attacks and sunburn. Look at the picture above, this is what we have come to. The scientist that created this type of selection stated that they wanted to develope succulent, low fat poultry that is environmentally friendly. They also stated that this chicken will save farmers large amounts of money on ventilation to prevent their chickens from overheating. Now if you knew you were eating a chicken looking like that will you still eat it? I for sure would not. Is there really a need for this? In my opinion I think that animals should not be artificially selected for the benefit of humans.Why do we need faster race horses or cows that produce more milk or five hundred different kinds of dogs? People only develope thsese things to benefit themselves.
Advantages of artificial selection include the treatment of infectious diseases by implanting genes with codes for antiviral proteins. A great example is the desinger baby, like I said in my previous blog with designer babies you can pick and choose the traits of your offspring, therefore if it is detected that your child has a certain disease you are able to remove that gene from your child using artificial selection. So through this method diseases are also prevented from spreading around which benefits the individual and the people he/she gets in contact with. Artificial selection has also hepled our plants. For example corn, before corn was actually corn it was called teosinte. Genes were taken from a crop that had the desirable traits. The process was then repeated generation after generation until the desired crop is created.
Conclusion
Artificial selection has definitley altered our lives forever. There are definitely many advantages and disadvantages of the new development.Some advantages are the prevention of diseases and the altering of certain plants, for example teosinte to corn or wild mustard into broccoli, like a stated before. A disadvantage is the mutation of animals causing them discomfort and a horrible life. In my opinion though artificial selection has helped us throughout the years I think the disadvantages weigh out the advantages because it is changing the way of life. Therefore I do not think that humans should artificially select plants or animals under any circumstances.
hey robyn!
ReplyDeletegreat blog. I like how you rounded off your opinion and linked it to designer babies; plants and animals bred through artifical selection for us to eat could be called designer food?! lol
even though artificial selection seems to only benefit those who use it, breeding a cow that produces more milk can actually benefit us as well. It means that there will be more milk that can be sold at a lower price than milk produced from a cow that makes less milk. This means more people will be able to buy milk which is especially important for people who otherwise would not be able to afford it- it doesn't only benefit the company that owns the cow and sells the milk. So, in some cases, artificial selectiion can be good - in my opinion at least:)