Technology could pose very negative effects and disadvantages to the human race. Technology can be defined as the applying practically of ones know how in relation to a particular discipline. It’s a word that collectively describes and portrays ones ability, views, and creativity. Technology can be traced back to 1 000 000 B. C evident with every archeological find of human remains emphasizing the point that technology is vital to human survival. Which brings us to the question; is technology a beneficial factor or a harmful one.
The recent rise in the use of technology could be harming the society health wise instead of benefiting it. Genetically Modified Foods This is an example of one of many applications of technology. These are foods crops that are produced by genetically altering the genes in the original food crops. This involves the creation of transgenic forms of life with organisms portraying unnatural lines of genes for example roses flowers crossed with pig genes, fish genes or fish genes crossed with tomato genes.
This is achieved by the use of Recombinant DNA technology (Ruiqiang, Zhou, Yang, Ounfang, Guibin, Jiang, Cao, Dandan, 2009). Some of the harmful effects caused by this kind of technology include deaths, allergy reactions and near deaths. A number of people died and a number of others were impaired in 1989 from ingesting a genetically modified version of L-tryptophan. Using technology the characteristics of one food can be transferred into another food which is thought to be safe to eat. For example genes from Brazilian nut were translocated into soybeans with the intention of providing methionine.
Some people allergic to the nut went to anaphylactic shock. It is clear therefore from above examples that technology can pose great health risks to individuals. Cancer Cancer can be defined as the uncontrolled division of cells leading in a growth or a tumor. Cancer can be caused by external entities or internal entities. These external causes may include radiation, food, smoke, asbestos, chemicals and many more others. Most of these causes are products of technology for example X-rays and chemicals. These entities cause genetic mutation which is one of the leading carcinogens.
The alteration of the order in which genes appear may cause uncontrolled division of cells hence cancer. A genetically modified growth hormone which when injected into cows causes higher milk production was approved in 1993 by the FDA. This hormone when ingested by humans caused an increase in the production of IGF-1 which increases the probability of developing breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. Autoimmune diseases also can be caused by fragments of foreign DNA if not fully digested in the stomach these potentially mix with ones DNA posing serious health risks.