Super Babies! Right or Wrong?

You can see that humans have been evolved throughout the years. There has been a drastic change in human technology in the past few decades. From the first telephone made to tiny little devices that can basically do anything like the iPhone. Devices aren't the only ones that had advanced, the knowledge and understanding of living things and the human body have also advanced drastically. These advancements and new found knowledge are allowing doctors to genetically modify the embryos of babies before they are born. This advance procedure includes using inVitro Fertilization or IVF, it allows eggs to fertilize outside of the mother's body inside test tubes. With IVF, parents can even choose what sex the baby will be. Doctors can screen embryos for diseases and select healthy ones to go back to the mother's womb, this whole process is called Pre- Implantation Genetic diagnostics or PGD.

There are so many wrong things about creating designer babies, but there are also good reasons. Some people do not have the fertility to have a baby and some people have a high chance of having a baby that is genetically diseased. The procedures of IVF and PDG can allow these people to have babies. Those procedures could aid in preventing genetic diseases that could have been passed down through the family. The children would suffer less and parents would not have to take care of a sick child, which could lead to less stress for the parents. Some parents also choose to have a second child that is without any genetic disease to be a future donate for another member in the family that has a disease. But are these reasons right to create a designer baby? The child that is going to be a future donor could feel that the parents had him just to help heal the other family member that is sick, he could feel like he is just being used and not loved. Will there be a world where the normal humans will be separated from the genetically enhanced humans? Where the enhanced humans are excluded and not allowed to participate in sports and groups just because they would have an unfair advantage against the others? Or maybe where the normal humans are excluded just because they are not as prefect as them?

In my opinion using genetic altering for health care only is acceptable because it could not only improve the lives of people but also save lives, but if parents use it just solely on creating good looks for the baby then I completely disagree on that. Genetic altering is very expensive and it could create a larger separation between the rich and the poor, and that would create a big problem in our society.

At the present time it is too soon to predict what will happen in the future of genetic altering. Scientist and researchers will have to do more test before they are sure that it is safe because they do not have the enough amount of knowledge required. It is also a risk to have the procedure because genetic altering done on animals show that there can be a huge mistake in the process and the lives of the new born babies could be in danger.

Sources

• http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_eth.htm
• http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont2.htm
• http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/End%20of%20the%20World/Genetics%20Nightmare/designer_babies.htm

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Protecting Our Oceans and Preserving Marine Life

Where ever you go in the world there will always be evidence of humans left behind. There are garbage scattered all around the world because of us humans. The small wrappers, plastic bottles, and papers that people litter can find its way into sewers, drains, and water ways which can lead to the ocean. The worlds largest garbage dump is called the Eastern Garbage Patch also called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is located in the central North Pacific Ocean. The exact size of this garbage patch is unknown, it can range from the size of Texas to twice the size of the United States.





The plants and animals that live in the area are also in danger. Different types of chemicals are destroying the plant life around that area, the animals could also absorb those chemicals and they could also swallow the garbage. There were animals found with plastic objects inside their stomaches, birds, fishes, and many other species are affected by this problem.



This is obviously causing a huge problem to the environment. Many people are trying to do their part to help reduce the amount of garbage that is in the pacific garbage patch. Richard Sundance Owen formed the Environmental Cleanup Coalition (ECC) in 2008. ECC work together with other groups to find ideas and methods on how remove the garbage. The Junk Raft project started by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation was to create awareness of the vast amount of garbage floating around in the ocean, the raft collected over 15, 000 old water bottles. Project Kaisei was the first garbage clean up project, it was launched in March 19, 2009. They sent two ships the "Horizon" and a smaller ship called "Kaisei" were sent to study the North Pacific Gyre.


Although not the problem has not been solved completely, those projects have taken a huge step forward on cleaning up the ocean. It make take years for scientist to fully understand how much and how far the garbage has accumulated inside the Gyre and maybe more for them to develop a safe way to clean it up.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Kaisei
• http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/first-great-pacific-garbage-patch-clean-up-effor-to-begin-next-month.php
• http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Moore-Trashed-PacificNov03.htm

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