Abstract: The application of biotechnology in the fields of health care, environmental protection and food has had a profound impact on the improvement of human health care and living environment, as well as the enhancement of disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment techniques. However, while it brings great benefits to human society, we should be highly alert to the negative impacts on human health, social ethics and ecological environment, and actively make scientific and effective countermeasures.
1. Status of biotechnology development
Biotechnology is based on life sciences. The use of biological (or biological tissues, cells and other components) of the characteristics and functions, design, construction of new substances or new strains with the expected performance, as well as with the combination of engineering principles for social production or social services in the field of integrated technology. It is a comprehensive science and technology developed in the early 1970s on the basis of molecular biology and cell biology combined with modern engineering methods and principles [1].
Modern biotechnology based on genetic engineering, protein engineering and cell engineering is the frontier of scientific and technological innovation in the 21st century and represents the direction of high-tech development. In particular, the successful implementation of the Human Genome Project (HGP), which was initiated in 1990 with the participation of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and China, has pushed the life sciences to the peak of contemporary scientific research.
The development of biotechnology has posed many new problems, ideas and challenges to the disciplines of chemistry, mathematics, physics, materials and information engineering, which have led to the development of new fields of research in these disciplines.
The development of biotechnology industry is of great significance for improving people's living environment and improving people's quality of life, especially for a country like China with a large population and low per capita resources, the development of biotechnology industry is of great strategic significance.
2. Positive contribution of biotechnology to human health
Biotechnology has been playing an indispensable role in the improvement of human health since its birth. It is mainly reflected in the following five aspects:
2.1 Disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment
Pharmaceutical biotechnology is the most active area in the field of biotechnology, the most rapid industrial development, and the most significant benefits. The proportion of investment and product market are the first in the field of biotechnology. The application of biotechnology in the field of medicine involves the development of new drugs, new diagnostic techniques, preventive measures and new therapeutic techniques, such as monoclonal antibodies, genetic diagnosis, fluorescence detection, gene chips and so on. These technologies can diagnose diseases quickly, sensitively and easily. Commonly used diagnostic methods include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and DNA diagnostic techniques.
Monoclonal antibodies can be used for the treatment of diseases, but also for disease diagnosis. For example, biological missiles used for tumor treatment, is the treatment of tumor drugs and anti-tumor cell antibodies connected together, the use of antibodies and antigen affinity, so that the drugs are concentrated in the tumor site to kill the tumor cells, to reduce the toxic side effects of drugs on normal cells [1]. Monoclonal antibodies are more often used in the diagnosis of diseases and evaluation of therapeutic effects. Moreover, gene microarray technology can be used for diagnosis of genetic diseases, infectious diseases and tumors, DNA sequence analysis, drug screening, and determination of gene expression levels. All of these contribute to the improvement of human health and quality of life[2].
2.2 Biopharmaceuticals
Biopharmaceuticals have changed the raw materials, processes and production methods of traditional pharmaceuticals, and produced drugs with special therapeutic effects, which have helped medicine overcome many persistent diseases that threaten the health and life of human beings. Antibiotics are the most familiar and widely used biotechnology drugs. Currently marketed genetically engineered protein drugs are mainly used for the treatment of cancer, AIDS, bacterial infections, metabolic diseases, blood diseases, diabetes, etc.[3]. Recombinant vaccines produced by genetic engineering can achieve safe and efficient purposes, such as viral hepatitis vaccine, cholera, dysentery, schistosomiasis vaccine, etc.[4].
2.3 Contributions of HGP to the study of human disease genes
Human disease-associated genes are information critical to the structural and functional integrity of the human genome, and HGP plays a major role in utilizing genes for disease diagnosis. In the past, it took a long time to find out which genes caused a disease; with the HGP, this process will be much shorter. Genetic mapping will help scientists find new drugs to cure diseases [5]. Understanding the role of genes on proteins. Scientists can design gene drugs that utilize the commands released by genes to repair or manufacture proteins, so that the proteins can control the normal functioning of human cells or organs as required to achieve the purpose of curing diseases.
2.4 Genetically Modified Animals and Plants
Genetic engineering to improve the nutritional level of food can contribute to improving human nutrition worldwide. The emergence of genetically modified (GM) animals and crops has provided humans with new, high quality and healthy foods. Among them, the development of transgenic plants is particularly rapid. According to statistics, in the United States, genetically modified food up to more than 4,000 kinds, has become people's daily life of ordinary commodities.
2.5 Application of biotechnology in environmental protection
Modern biotechnology not only plays an important role in crop improvement, pharmaceutical research, food engineering, but also with the increasingly prominent environmental issues in environmental monitoring, industrial cleaner production, industrial waste and urban waste treatment, the harmless treatment of toxic and hazardous substances also play an important role. . Such as the use of biotechnology to deal with waste, that is, through degradation to destroy the molecular structure of pollutants, and most of the degradation products and by-products can be reused by organisms, which will help to minimize the environmental pollution caused by human activities. In addition, fermentation technology can be utilized to treat pollutants.
3.1 Safety of biotechnology
Biosafety, in a narrow sense, refers to the potential adverse impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and human health that may result from the research, development, and application of modern biotechnology, as well as from the transnational transfer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Broadly speaking, it refers to the hazards or potential risks to society, economy, human health and ecological environment arising from various factors related to biology.
3.1.1 Genetic pollution: a very special and dangerous environmental pollution. There are three broad scenarios: contamination of traditional crops and change the nature of their consumption; contamination of the natural gene pool; affect the ecological balance of nature.
3.1.2 The safety of genetically modified foods: There is no conclusive evidence yet. Its risks have now caused widespread concern . Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) entering the human body as food are likely to have certain toxicological effects and allergic reactions; antibiotic marker genes used in GMOs may make the human body resistant to many antibiotics; growth hormone-like genes transferred into food may have a significant impact on human growth and development, and some of these effects need to be manifested and monitored over a long period of time [6,7]; genetically modified microorganisms may interact with other organisms Genetically modified microorganisms may exchange genetic material with other organisms to produce new harmful organisms or enhance the harmfulness of harmful organisms. to cause disease epidemics [6].
3.1.3 Uncertainty of gene therapy:
1) current technology cannot guarantee that introducing genes into germ cells will not cause harm to the offspring and will be effective, and once the harm is done, it will be inherited and is irreversible;
2) the number of genes that have therapeutic value is still few, and the mechanism of genetic diseases controlled by multiple genes is not known;
3) in order to make the genes enter the cells, the genes can be introduced into the cells. get the genes into the cells, the genes are often integrated with adenoviruses or retroviruses, but the potential risk of the viruses to the organism has not been addressed.
3.1.4 Risks of xenotransplantation: Immune rejection and cross-species infections are the two main problems of xenotransplantation.
3.1.5 Biological Weapons Scare: Biological warfare agents are a collective term for disease-causing microorganisms, toxins, and other biologically active substances used to kill and maim humans and animals and to destroy crops during military operations. At present, the traditional biological weapons have developed to a new stage of "genetic weapons".
3.2 Ethical issues in biotechnology
Advances in biomedical technology have made it possible not only to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease more effectively, but also to manipulate genes, sperm or eggs, fertilized eggs, embryos, and even the human brain and human behavior. How can this amplified power, which can be used correctly or abused, be effectively controlled? The effects of this power can be felt over generations. What if the interests of one generation conflict with those of future generations? In February 1997, the introduction of "sheep cloning" caused a strong reaction around the world, so will "human cloning" be the next step? After the completion of the HGP, "genetic discrimination" has become a major problem. "Genetic discrimination" has caused some people with abnormal genes to be treated unfairly in marriage, employment and higher education [8]. The creation and development of modern assisted reproduction technology (Artificial Reproduction Technology (ART)) has caused an unprecedented impact and destruction of the traditional concept of marriage and family, a child may have five parents [9], who are the legal parents of the child in the end? If embryos have become commodities, are human beings also commodities? Biotechnology in many ways has created ethical problems, and the blurring, confusion and inversion of ethics can easily lead to psychological and emotional distortions.