Unit Plan 5: Bioethics

Transcription

1 Unit Plan 5: Bioethics Each unit is complete with the corresponding slides found in the main Genetic Engineering PowerPoint. Teachers have the liberty to cover the material on an as-needed basis based on alignment with class curriculum. Estimated Time Materials 3 4 class periods PowerPoint, printable worksheets of choice from the following lesson plan Objectives 1. Distinguish between the pros and cons of vaccine producing food (Analyze) 2. Define bioethics and relate the field of study to vaccine producing food (Remember) 3. Explain why lab safety is important in genetic engineering (Understand) 4. Sketch the three spheres of sustainability and define each part (Apply) 5. List the three components of agricultural ethics and summarize each part (Remember) 6. Develop an argument for GM crops and against GM crops (Evaluate) 7. Give an example of a concern related to the following categories: ecologic, economic (Understand) Standards and strands Science Biology Standard 4, Objective 2, Part d: Analyze bioethical issues and consider the role of science in determining public policy Agricultural Science 1 Strand 3, Standard 3, Describe benefits and risks associates with biotechnology. Strand 3, Standard 6, Research the scope of the food science industry and the world food supply. Agricultural Science 2 Strand 3, Standard 2, Discuss ethical, legal, social, and cultural issues in modern biotechnology. Agricultural Science 3 Strand 5, Standard 2, Identify and discuss ethical issues with applications of genetic engineering. Assessment Options 1. Choose any of the included activities or projects as assessments. Vocabulary Bioethics, sustainability

2 Objectives Curriculum and Instruction: Content Teaching Method 1. Distinguish Vaccine Producing Food Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not? Create a between the Foods can be genetically engineered to contain vaccines, pros and cons list to share with the class! pros and cons of vaccine also known as edible vaccines, which could be easier to deliver vaccines to children. producing food. 2. Define bioethics and relate the field of study to vaccine producing food. What are Bioethics? The origin of the term is in the article Bioethics, the Science of Survival where Van Rensselaer Potter defines the term as: A science of survival must be more than science alone, and I therefore propose the term bioethics in order to emphasize the two most important ingredients in achieving the new wisdom that is so desperately needed: biological knowledge and human values. Biology + ethics = bioethics Show students the following comic and discuss the definition. 3. Explain why lab safety is important in genetic engineering. Safety and Ethics Because of the dangers associated with genetic engineering, laboratory procedures such as researcher protection from infection and keeping all microbes in the lab. Genetic crippling is when microbe strains used in experiments involving recombinant DNA are unable to survive outside the lab, but dangerous experiments can be banned. Ethical Questions POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES Why Scientists Can Never Prove That Biotech Crops are Safe o Risk as Science o html Risk as Perception o ml

3 Should humans have the ability to create new organisms or alter an existing organism s genes? Is it unethical, or has it been done through artificial selection for centuries? (Pearson Education, 2016) The Risk Assessment Paradigm o l 4. Sketch the three spheres of sustainability and define each part. Have students draw the following diagram on notebook paper or their interactive notebook, writing the definition in each circle. 5. List the three components of agricultural ethics and summarize each part. Three spheres of sustainability PennState Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering - Agricultural ethics is like a three-legged milking stool. One appendage rests in health, another in environment, and the third is planted firmly in the social, cultural and historical meanings of rural life. Medically-based dietary advice may be grounded in a concern for human health, but it has the potential for both cultural and environmental reverberations. Agricultural and food issues have a natural place in the bioethics spectrum, even when bioethics is conceived narrowly in terms of human health. But a complete understanding of these issues will require insight from all three legs of the agricultural ethics stool. -Paul B. Thompson, Michigan State University Agricultural ethics stool: health, environment, (social/cultural/historical) Have students draw the following diagram on notebook paper or their interactive notebook, writing the definition in each leg of the milk stool.

4 3.pdf Additional CAST Paper 2e961471b33646e406f Understand that the following benefits and concerns do not reflect the opinion of Utah State University. The following information reflects what supporters and opponents are propagating. 6. Develop an argument for GMO crops and against GMO crops. Benefits/Supporters Environmental, Health, Economic, world problem solving Supporters say the technology will be better for the environment Fewer chemicals are used with herbicide resistance compared to conventional crops Herbicide resistant crops, like roundup ready corn or soybeans Insect resistant crops, like bt corn and bt cotton Supporters say there are health benefits Higher quality and nutritional value, shelf life longer, sugar beets with lower calories, lower saturated fat oils, benefitting world s poor, added vitamins and minerals, golden rice, mass producing substances like pharmaceuticals Supporters say farmers will benefit Avoiding losses, single broad-spectrum herbicide reducing land degradation, losses reduced from sudden frosts, GM crop yields increasing 5 to 8 percent (corn, cotton, soybeans) Supporters say that GM Seeds will aid in feeding the growing world population ACTIVITY/ASSESSMENT OPTIONS Jigsaw activity for multiple perspectives: environmentalist, chemical company, grain farm families, Examples of perspectives - Structured Academic Controversy: What Should We Do? Activity emiccontroversy.pdf Student Created Survey on Genetically Engineered Crop Safety Issues Position Paper on the Safety of Genetically Engineered Food 7. Give an example of a concern related to the Concerns 1. Ecological, health, genetic, contamination, patent, geopolitical INTERACTIVE SOURCES Food security index sponsored by Dupont

5 following categories: ecologic, economic a. Opponents say that wildlife could be harmed by GM crops, pesticide resistant Superbugs and Superweeds (Refugee area is now needed for Bt crops to slow resistant insect development. Bt is a soil bacterium that organic growers spray on crops as a pesticide, and resistant insects would nullify this practice. b. Super weeds are herbicide resistant due to uncontrollable cross pollination by wind, birds, insects. c. Natural species competition, creating a loss of diversity. d. Non-target species includes harming birds, non pest insects, and animals. Specifically, transgenic Bt corn harming monarch butterfly, known through a Cornell University study. e. Opponents say that GM foods could cause health problems f. Animal experiments include: the liver, heart, and brain being smaller, with a reduced immune system, in rats fed potatoes with GMO protein. (reword). Antibiotic gut resistance found in mice were the trans-genes were not degraded in digestion. g. Allergies due to proteins, 90% of food allergies are due to proteins. For example, though, the brazil nut protein in soybean was never on the market. h. Lack of control over location of insertion, which could disrupt other genes. The role of the gene may be unknown, or have different functions based on the organism. For example, the genet in rats for sense of smell, in Zebra finches for song learning, and humans for Parkinson s disease are the same gene.

6 i. Concerns with cross pollination and segregation. Because corn is the most highly used biopharma crop, there are concerns with cross-pollination with plants engineered to contain human antibodies, like contraceptive corn (epicyte gene) and herpes-fighting antibody (human gene). Proposing that there may be inadequate segregation of crops, such as crops for human vs. animal feed with the StarLink corn recall. j. StarLink corn is a GMO product FDA approved for animal feed but not human feed, and found in September of 2000 in human food. $1 billion was lost. Companies affected included Kraft, taco Bell, Mission, and Kellog s 2. Economics a. Opponents say small farmers will be affected negatively by GM crop technology, making them dependent on big firms. b. Biotech crops could be too expensive in developing countries. c. Increased reliance on monocultures, with 90 % of food being grown from 15 crops. 1. Monoculture crops predisposition for disease and pests due to lack of diversity. 2. Opponents also say that profit driven biotech companies are not concerned with risk to nature or people. 3. Money invested in research and development needs to be recuperated. 4. High volume crops are the focus, such as soybeans, corn and cotton, rather than food crops to help those in poor countries.

7 ii. Patents food inc 1. Growing and selling patented crops 2. Biosurfdom, means that the farmers cannot choose what they grow. GMO seed cost being higher in developing countries. The plant variety protection act says that farmers cannot cross pollinate seeds, protecting GMO crop investors such as Monsanto. iii. Geopolitical Pearson 1. Biosafety Protocol was negotiated by 130 countries, but the united states declined. This requires GM organisms in bulk food shipments to be labeled by exporters, and if a health/environmental risk is imposed importing courtiers can decline shipments. 2. What health/environmental risk are they referring to? 3. This can cause trade disputes, and European countries have occasionally refused united states crops.

8 Additional activities based on agricultural topic: General Why the topic of bioethics in science class? Content: Curriculum: The Nature of Learning: Animal Science - Plant Science - Additional Reading based on agricultural topic: General - Animal Science - Plant Science - Sources: Pearson Education Content Campbell Essential Biology (6th Ed.) by Simon, Reece, & Dickey.