Scanning and Foresight: Key to Security Regulation - Essay Sample

Introduction

The process of scanning and foresight plays a very vital role in the regulation of the different aspects of security. The factors that involve both the international and domestic environments play a critical role in creating a suitable decision making process of the system. Foresight is very vital since it establishes and interacts with different policies. It also advances for the opportunities and challenges that are posed to the development of new plans for regulation purposes. The two elements of scanning and foresight remain very fundamental in the global village we are in in the creation of most provident regulation systems. The regulation system of many governments is faced by a lack of well-structured programs and policies that make them fail in the execution of various roles.

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The emergences of technology in science advancement possess a lot of risks and ethical factors that should be considered. These two concepts play very vital criticality in the essentiality of the ethical concerns to be well comprehended in the future. The global issues in the trends that take place every day create a lot of challenges and opportunities that lie in the scanning process. The scanning is done keenly to create the apprehension of what is expected to take place for more advancement of the technological changes to be felt. Forecasting remains as being critical in its creation of the future to come to avoid the threats that may be vital. Foresight is essential since it creates newer organizational capacities. Foresight establishes the vision of the future for the building of organizational capacity that engages the process of social learning. The social learning leads to a creative and flexible overview of the future. Various forms shape the future, and these involve horizon scanning, megatrend identification, vision, and scenario building.

Gene Editing

Gene editing is a technology, also known as genome editing, in which the DNA of an organism is altered. The technology allows scientists to add, remove or change a particular genotype in an organism. The most recent gene-editing approach is CRISPR-Cas9. It refers to the clustered regular interface short palindromic repeats and association with protein 9. Many people use development since it is cheap, faster, more accurate, and more efficient as compared to other gene-editing processes that have emerged. The discovery is a result of research using a particular genome obtained from bacteria. The bacteria are used to capture snippets from viruses that are present in one's body and editing it into CRISPR arrays. The arrays ensure that the bacteria can easily detect a repeat of invasion by similar viruses or anything related to it. Whenever the viruses decided to attack again, the bacteria produce RNA segments that are essential in fighting the DNA of the viruses, thus weakening their power. Once they attack the DNA of the virus, they use CAS9 or any other protein enzyme to destroy the cells into pieces. The technology is still under examination of its efficiency on human health. The research is being developed to help provide health solutions of cystic fibroids, HIV, hemophilia, heart diseases and, cancer. The laboratory experiment of Cas9 is such that simple RNA structures are created and further linked with a specific DNA sequence.

Additionally the Cas9 enzyme is embedded along the RNA sequence. In the case of bacteria functioning, the RNA sequence is used to determine the presence of an unwanted DNA sequence. The role of the Cas9 enzyme is to slice the DNA sequence at a location identified earlier. The cut sequence is then used to replace a deleted DNA segment in an organism or to improve the existing sector. Other than Cas9, the Cpfl enzyme performs similar functions during gene editing. Nonetheless, the Cas9 enzyme is commonly used in gene editing.

In April 2015, Junjiu Huang, a Chinese scientist and his team of the Sun Yat-sen University led an advanced yet contentious study. According to Liang, Xu, Zhang, Ding, Huang, Zhang, and Sun (2015), their study entailed an investigation on editing genes of the human embryos to fix mutations in the HBB gene, which is the beta-globin protein encoder. As per Liang et al., (2015), hemoglobin comprises of this protein, and its gene mutation is linked to the beta thalassemia disease. According to Tobita, Guzman-Lepe, and Collin de l'Hortet (2015), gene editing is a process that involves the elimination of specific DNA portions, to allow their substitution by new genotypes. They add that the term "editing" refers to the analogy of creating a text, by deleting and afterward rewriting letters. The DNA of all types of living things can be altered by editing for various reasons that range from the treatment of illnesses, creation of transgenic foods, and improvement of human non-neurotic features, among others.

Lately, precisely in August 2017, the Nature journal published a comparative study to that of Junjiu Huang (Tobita et al., 2015). The study was led by another Chinese scientist, Hong Ma and her team, conducted at the Oregon Health and Science University. It aimed at repairing MYBPC3 gene mutation in human embryos (Ma, Marti-Gutierrez, Park, Wu, Lee, Suzuki, & Darby, 2017). According to Ma et al. (2017), this difference commonly causes the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy disorder, which is presented by the clotting of the cardiac musculature. Nonetheless, such studies only raise the controversy surrounding the adequacy and impacts of human DNA manipulation.

Discussions have been built over media and in research literature complicating the scientific, ethical, and social effects of gene editing. Whereas some scientists criticize gene editing, others commend it proposing alertness in future analyses. Consequently, this paper seeks to explore the debates surrounding gene-editing in human embryos. It will address both the supporting and opposing arguments of the gene editing procedure. The paper conducted a corpus analysis of diffuse publications within research literatures such as articles, organizational reports, and seminars published and conducted between 2015 and 2017. Finally, the paper is a theoretical investigation that is based on the interpretation and analysis of specific bibliography.

Technical Characteristics in Gene Editing

According to Doudna (2015), the evolution of gene editing procedures began in the early 90s. This represented a major development for scientists in the field of biotechnology. The process got the name since it actually "erases" certain DNA portions and replaces them with new genes. For instance, the germ and somatic cells that can both be edited (Tobita et al., 2015). Genetic changes are transferred to the offspring in the case of germ cells (ovules and sperm) and precursor cells (Tobita et al., 2015). Some scientists likewise add embryos in the beginning stage of development under a similar classification. Hence, somatic cells refer to all other body cells and their modifications are not genetic.

Gene editing happens in two main stages. First is the DNA recognition and cleavage stage followed by the molecule repair stage. To date, there are four known methods used in gene editing. The methods comprise of enzymes altered by human tampering. They include: 1) CRISPR-Cas9; 2) mega nucleases; 3) transcription activator like effector nucleases; and 4) zinc-finger nucleases (Tobita et al., 2015). According to Tobita et al. (2015), these methods have the "recognition" tools that enable them to stick to particular nucleotide sequences of the target DNA; and "cleavage" tools, that permit the sectioning of the nucleotides of the target DNA. As per Maeder and Gersbach (2016), the purported "double-strand breaks" are generated once the nucleotides are sectioned. This triggers endogenous components as a characteristic method for fixing DNA harm. Gene editing procedure applies these characteristics to make the genetic changes desirable.

According to Maeder and Gersbach (2016), there are two fundamental gene repair methods, namely: non-homologous end joining (NHEJ); and homology-directed repair (HDR). They add that the NHEJ method joins the tails of the cleaved DNA molecule part and is viewed as being helpful in stopping the gene action/gene knockout. For instance, gene knockout causes Huntington's disease, or the receptor encoding gene to which the HIV virus links while attacking the body's cells (Maeder & Gersbach, 2016). The second method, (HDR), applies formats to recover double-stranded breaks. According to Maeder and Gersbach (2016), researchers can embed foreign DNA formats into the cells alongside the editing devices. They add that such external formats have selected genes that supply the framework of the new DNA portion to be developed at the cleavage site.

Uses of Gene Editing

The advancement of gene editing methods promotes the genome modification of different kinds of living creatures. The methods affect various areas including; agricultural and environmental sciences, basic biomedical research, and disease management. Furthermore, gene editing methods can also be used to modify human characteristics for extra-remedial improvement purposes. An advantage of gene editing aimed at disease treatment is the improvement of gene and cell treatments. As per Maeder and Gersbach (2016), the following areas will gain from the improvement of gene editing methods: 1) dermatology; 2) hematology; 3) hepatology; 4) infectiology; 5) neurology; 6) oncology; 7) ophthalmology; 8) organ transplantation; and 9) pneumology.

Besides the clinical uses, gene editing enables the development of isogenic and modified animal cell lines that are used in basic biomedical research. Isogenic cells have a particular and institutionalized hereditary profile, while modified animals, also known as "chimeras," possess inherent qualities to the human body. According to Tobita et al. (2015), this gives scientists test models of control that encourage the induction of experimental knowledge. Among the numerous editable genes is the gene that encodes the myostatin protein, which confines muscle development.

According to Carroll and Charo (2015), the weight of animals, such as sheep and goats, can increase significantly when gene action is restrained, making them more attractive to clients. This will undoubtedly influence the transgenic food industry. Suffices to say, gene editing can also have macro-environmental effects by intervening on the DNA of living creatures. As Carroll and Charo (2016) point out, the improvement of the gene drive method (genetic induction) is an example of its systemic uses. Genetically modified organisms are released into the environment through the gene drive method to scatter a specific hereditary variation that appears to prevail over other species already existing in the environment. Lastly, improvements in the field of life sciences not only improve disease treatment and management, but additionally the upgrade of human limits, for example, discernment, physical execution, and life span. In principle, editing methods would enable gene alteration so that subjective and physical characteristics on request could be passed onto people (Holland, 2013).

Disputes on Gene Editing

Albeit the fact that the practice of gene editing presents possible advantages to the society, the study by Junjiu Huang and his team caused incredible public uproar. The scientists crossed a line many believe should not be crossed when they modified the human germ cell DNA to produce a hereditary modification that can be fused into the genetic collection of our species. It is important to distinguish the debates on human gene editing, to be able to describe the supporting and opposing arguments to the process for further examination. As stated earlier, the...