The effects of biotechnology on the worlds of today and tomorrow
Although biotechnology is not a brand-new field, it is developing quickly and finding more and more uses in our daily lives, including the creation of food, medicines, and waste treatment. Below, we investigate this fascinating topic and attempt to predict its future potential.
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Even though biotechnology is almost ingrained in our DNA, its constant breakthroughs still astound us and make it seem more like science fiction. Even now, over 6,000 years later, when people are starting to question whether there are any technological boundaries left, the revolutionary spirit of those discoveries made before the term was coined—like the fermentation of cheese, wine, or bread—remains. This could lead to further technological advancements in the future.
Definition of Biotechnology
Genetically engineered foods are one example of the things that biotechnology develops or modifies using living cells. Thus, biotechnology and genetic engineering are related. Biotechnology began as a separate discipline in the food business at the turn of the 20th century, and other industries like medicine and the environment joined it later.
The five areas of current biotechnology—human, environmental, industrial, animal, and plant—help us combat sickness and hunger, increase the safety, efficiency, and cleanliness of our production processes, lessen our environmental impact, and conserve energy. In recent years, there has been an exponential expansion in employment and investment in this industry. The number of employees rose by 11% between 2018 and 2022, and according to BIO Media, the economic effect in the US is anticipated to reach $2.9 trillion.
Biotechnology uses and applications
We already use biotechnological breakthroughs in many aspects of our daily life, such as pharmacies and supermarkets. Furthermore, their contributions to the deciphering of the virus’s DNA and the knowledge of the functioning of our body’s defense system against infectious organisms were crucial in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, biotechnology will be essential to the prevention and containment of possible infections in future civilization. However, this is only one of its several uses. We examine a few of the most noteworthy in various fields below:
Health Care
Among the achievements of biotechnology and its partnership with genetic engineering are the creation of insulin, growth hormone, molecular identification and diagnostics, gene treatments, and vaccinations like hepatitis B. Additionally, because it can complete extremely complex tests more quickly and cheaply, it is also employed in illness diagnosis.
Sector
With the primary benefit of being able to create goods that are readily biodegradable, the revolution of new smart materials in tandem with biotechnology is still in its early stages. Like biodegradable plastics, these items benefit the environment since, at the moment of destruction, they produce less trash.
Food
Apart from the genetically modified food items already mentioned, biotechnology has also led to the creation of products like WEMA, a crop resistant to specific insects and droughts that might play a crucial role in combating famine in Africa.
surroundings
The catabolic characteristics of bacteria, fungus, plants, and enzymes are employed in bioremediation procedures—which are highly beneficial for ecological recovery—to repair damaged habitats.
Biotechnology varieties
The many biotechnology applications are typically categorized into seven colors, or research and development fields, much like the rainbow’s stripes. We highlight the most pertinent of each of them in this section.
biotechnology in red. As per the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the health department bears the responsibility of developing over 250 vaccines and pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, regenerative treatments, and artificial organ manufacture.
biotechnology that is green. Over 13 million farmers use it globally to combat pests, feed their crops, and fortify them against microbes and harsh weather conditions like frosts and droughts.
biotechnology in white. The industrial branch seeks to increase industry’s sustainability and efficiency through the development of biofuels, other technologies, and better production procedures.
Yellow Biotechnology. This division, which focuses on food production, conducts studies to lower the amounts of saturated fats in cooking oils, for instance. Its primary purpose is to genetically modify products to increase food production or quality.
biotechnology in blue. In order to produce cosmetics, health care items, and aquaculture, this utilizes marine resources. The goal at the environmental level is to protect marine life and ecosystems. Furthermore, it is the branch that is most frequently utilized to extract biofuels from certain microalgae.
Biotechnology in gray. Its goal is to preserve and repair polluted natural ecosystems using the previously discussed bioremediation techniques.
Platinum biotechnology. Obtaining, storing, analyzing, and separating biological information—especially that pertaining to DNA and amino acid sequences—is the responsibility of bioinformatics, another name for this field of study.
Four further subcategories with matching colors have more recently been added to these typologies:
Biotechnology Brown. This is a product of green biotechnology, which aims to boost the richness and flora of dry and desert areas by incorporating highly resistant plant species into the soil.
Purple Biotechnology. It covers the legal analysis of these extremely scientific concepts. They have a lot in common with patents, intellectual property, and the biosafety of procedures involving living things.
Biotechnology Orange. Information that might be of interest to the other branches is part of this. With the use of recent developments in biotechnologies, it is conducted in the domains of education and scientific dissemination.
biotechnology in black. This covers all studies on microorganisms that have the potential to harm human health. Its primary focus is on bioterrorism and biological warfare.
The benefits and drawbacks of biotechnology
Although biotechnology has many clear advantages, some people are concerned about potential negative impacts on ethics, the environment, and human health. The following are some of BIO’s benefits:
Thanks to innovations like recombinant DNA, it maximizes the use of water, minimizes waste, and cuts down on chemical processes and CO2 emissions by 52%.
It enhances medical diagnostics, lowers infection rates, lessens drug adverse effects, and promotes development in underdeveloped nations.
It encourages wholesome, environmentally friendly farming that produces food that is free of toxins and allergies and uses less chemicals and pesticides.
Reducing poverty and hunger: Increasing the amount of land that can be farmed and the amount of food that can be produced is one of the goals of biotechnology.
These are its principal risks:
Crop variety might be lost if meals produced in laboratories proliferate. It could also have an impact on ecosystem equilibrium.
Unexpected allergies, organism poisoning, and altered germs escaping from a lab are among the dangers.
The use of assisted reproduction, human genome editing, and cloning are contentious ethical and societal issues.
reduction in small farmers and labor. Lower labor costs are required due to higher yields, and smaller landowners are unable to profit from these lower labor costs.