Pros and Cons of Artificial Selection

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Pros and Cons of Artificial Selection

Artificial selection is a process in which humans select animals and plants according to certain traits so that they will later on keep on having these traits. Essentially ,we mean to take advantage of selection processes in order to make these species have the traits we want them to have, instead of allowing natural selection to happen. This has been happening for quite some time, but now the debate has begun. In order to understand a little more about artificial selection, we’re looking at the pros and cons.

List of Pros of Artificial Selection

1. There is No Patented Process
The best part about artificial selection that there is no patented process and, as such, anyone who wants to do it can do it. It does need a little bit know-how to do it properly, but with a little bit of research pretty much any farmer can do it to increase the profit he has at the end of the year. Furthermore, any farmer can breed specific characteristics in plants or animals that he can use to have even more profits in the future.

2. There is No Health Issues Involved
GMO foods have a lot of health issues involved because, well, they aren’t natural at all. Selective breeding, on the other hand, does have a really high degree of natural processes in it and as such there is no health issue involved in it. It is manipulated by humans, but the DNA sequences are not influenced at all by humans.

List of Cons of Artificial Selection

1. It Eliminates Variety of Animal and Plant Populations
Artificial selection creates populations with a specific desired trait that is going to improve the profits of the farmers. Traits that do not improve the profits of farmers are going to be eliminated as time goes by and that is going to eliminate other types of options in the future – possibly options we do not yet know of.

2. There Is No Control Over Genetic Mutations
Artificial selection is seen by a lot of people as playing God, but we can’t do that properly. It might help make the good traits pass down from generation to generation, but some random genetic mutations are bound to happen along the way and who knows that they will bring to the table. it is even possible to lose one of the good traits because of these genetic mutations.

3. Organisms Are At Risk
Since the organisms are going to go through breeding processes through artificial selection so that they can get the traits we want them to get, it is possible that something goes wrong at a certain stage of these processes and that, for example, a disease is passed down during artificial selection, leading to a health risk over the entire population of the organism and even possible of humans if things get out of control.