Genetic Engineering

For centuries man has wondered if there was a way to reverse of stop the effects of aging. Millions of dollars have been spent in labs across America striving to reach for this goal. Some people say it is hopeless, man shall never be able to reverse or stop time. Others prefer a more revolutionary approach. They say that aging can and someday will be stopped maybe even reversed. How can this be done? This goal some think can be attained through the use of gene alteration.

Currently gene alteration is still a bit shaky, skeptics say it will never be a fully functioning part of our society. Supporters say that someday gene therapy will be able to detect and fight cancer, improve our way of life, and become a tool of cosmetic surgeons. What we shall focus on in this paper is the possibilities gene alteration may provide for anti-aging.

As we age our genes shrink in size. When the genes get so short certain enzymes start getting made at slower rates and we begin to age. Wrinkles appear and for some old age signals bad health. There are many causes for this bad health. Some are just time bombs that wait so long and detonate causing a heart attack, stroke, or cancer. So the key to stopping these bombs from going off would be to post pone or stop the timer which makes them tick. To do this would be to help decrease and stop the effects of aging.

In the future this will all be possible due to gene therapy. One possible alterations that may be able to be made to our genes may be to stop them from getting shorter and thus stop aging. This will all be possible due to new proteins that will be able to be bind and reinforce the chromosomes in a humans body. This will probably not be permanent in the near future but will only be able to prolong the aging process. In the distant future this may be able to last forever proving to be a fountain of youth or drink from the holy grail for those rich enough to afford the procedure.

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