Biotechnology Friend or Foe of the Environment?

Biotechnology Friend or Foe of the Environment?

  • Submitted By: wclim
  • Date Submitted: 02/01/2009 12:22 AM
  • Category: Technology
  • Words: 1868
  • Page: 8
  • Views: 2799

You cannot breathe without choking on the air. Your eyes are watering from the dust around. Your feet rest on breaking dry ground, and there are seemingly no signs of plants around. Is this our planet Earth? Can biotechnology save us from this dreadful fate?
Biotechnology has been around for a long time. Our ancestors have been making use of biotechnology for many things, such as the baking of bread using yeast. Biotechnology, as the word suggests, is the “fusion of biology and technology”1 (Medicinenet, n.d.), using biological techniques for product research and development.
Albeit useful, there have been concerns that Biotechnology is being a drag to the environment. It is not news that the environment is degrading. So the question now is: Is Biotechnology a friend or foe of the Environment? Biotechnology’s positive impacts to the environment should outweigh the negative impacts to be considered a Friend of the environment. Conversely, if Biotechnology results in more harm than benefits to the environment it would be considered a Foe. While there are no doubts that Biotechnology has some downsides, I feel that Biotechnology is definitely a friend to the environment.
Biotechnology, in Phytoremeditation, can be used to clean up the environment. Certain cleaning processes can be impossible or slow without the use of biotechnology. One example is the use of microbes to clean up wastewater. Biotechnology enables the degradation of wastes such as sludge, fats and other organic materials (Adbio, n.d.)2. These techniques are environmentally safe as opposed to non-biotechnology techniques, which may have serious implications on the environment.
Sludge, for example, contain biological byproducts from sewage treatment and have very high oxygen demand (EUWFD, n.d.).3They should not be released untreated for they will use up the oxygen in water bodies. Sludge treatment will reduce the sludge to safe materials to dispose or incinerate, leading to less environmental...

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