"The old-fashioned way is cheaper and more fun and that won't change in 30 years." Susannah Baruch

Segments in our DNA, produces proteins which in turn controls our physical and mental characteristics. By turning these segments on and off, you can control the characteristics of the body. So if you are tall, it’s probably because the proteins produced by the segments make you grow taller. So what if we are able to control this? As soon as we learn to control this perfectly, we can create a perfect human being

In our world, many of our scientific discoveries are halted by the faith in our religion. Cloning, stem cell research etc are rejected by the church in saying just one simple thing: “Who are we to play God?” In a way it is true that we are using our technology to alter or modify the life God has given us.

“Designer baby” is only a term used by the media, which stands for genetically modified babies. If genes are altered, scientist can give it specific characteristics like physical ability, intelligence, looks etc. So it is possible to create the perfect baby by using this man made method. Despite all the criticism that goes around, a designer baby is not 100% bad. In fact, this modelling can propel our human race forward on a substantial rate. On our first view of designer babies, we think it’s immoral or wrong for doing such a thing and that’s because we believe that “We are not to play God”. Yet, looking into this more deeply, it is possible to find out more facts about this genetically altered baby.

A debatable fact about designer babies is the choice a parent can make about the gender and characteristics the baby will have. This genetic modification can allow parents to choose how they want their child to look like. Is this good or bad? Do parents have a right to choose how their baby is to look? Personally, I have no answer for that. I think that God made babies to be similar to their parents. It is because of the joining of two haploids that makes us very different from each other, but at the same time show resemblance of our family. Is it really a good thing to step over the boundaries set by God? On the religion trip (places of worship), Mr. Morra asked a Sikh why the Sikhs never cut their hair. The Sikh replied with another question “Why should I cut my hair? God had made us with hair and who are we to take it away” Why is that man have moustaches but females don’t (most females). Therefore, God created it for a purpose and there is no reason why we should discard it.

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

We humans have a tendency to explore things in our world. We try to find all the answers and that is what distinguishes us from other animals. Yet, many times, we fail to realize that we hurt other species while we make these advances. We don’t realize their importance until it’s too late.

HOW IS THIS DONE?

To make a designer baby, scientists first have to fertilize the egg outside the mother’s womb through an advanced reproductive technique called In-Vitro Fertilisation (putting it back in?). After the egg is fertilized, the egg is put back into the mother until birth. By using this technique, doctors and parents can reduce the chance that a child will be born with a genetic disorder. By choosing the type of sperm that will fertilize the egg, it is possible to depict whether the offspring will be a male or a female. Scientists will also scan the embryo for certain diseases and only the selected ones will go back to mother’s body. The rest will be discarded which is similar to have an abortion. With this method, we have complete control over how babies are to be born. And no longer will parents have to worry about genetic disorders.
href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CVARGHE%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml">

THE GOOD

There are many people in the world who have genetic disorders caused by the abnormalities in chromosomes. Down syndrome occurs in 1 in 800 births and that is not even the end of the genetic disorders that can happen to an individual. By genetic modification and screening, it is possible to reduce the chances of these diseases significantly. Many lives on earth can be saved by this process of genetic modification.
In case you are wondering, yes the first genetically altered baby has been created under the name of Adam Nash. He wasn’t given any kind of greater intelligence or athletic ability (or so we are told) etc. He was created so he would possess the right cells to save his dying sister. He was created by the revolutionary pre-implantation process in the year 2000. Scientists had specifically chosen the cells, so that he would not get the same diseases as his sister and a way to cure his sister. His sister suffered from Fanconi’s anaemia (blood disorder). If Adam was born normally, the chances that he would suffer from this are fairly high. Yet, with the help of genetic modification, he had saved his and his sister’s life.
Another baby was born to a similar reason in 2003 and had been successful. These incidents had saved peoples life and I doubt if it was used in an immoral way. Designer baby is a creation by humans that can be considered a major immoral occurrence, but not necessarily so, when controlled. All we have to do is make sure we don’t misuse it, but given our human nature it will be difficult to do so.
Parents of babies don’t want to see their young ones die. In fact, they want their kids to grow perfectly and rise to become the best. They would never want their son/daughter to die. Should we deny their right for having a designer baby? They could just have a designer baby to prevent any genetic disorders.

THE BAD

Having a designer baby has a lot of down sides to it. Human biodiversity will be greatly influenced to the creation of designer babies. If designer babies are created, most parents would want them to be the best looking and want them to have the physical and mental characteristics. The whole world that we live in will be revolutionized. There is a book that I forgot but it talks about genetically modified humans given a specific role the moment they are born. So their genes are modified to make sure that they are fit for that duty. In this case, an individual person has no freedom to choose their own path, but must follow what they are given.
Another major problem that can happen is the conflicts with the designer babies and the normal people. Naturally, the genetically modified baby will have greater advantage in society, which will elevate hatred between the normal people and the designer babies. A popular anime series, Gundam Seed depicts a war story between superior genetically modified humans to the normal human race. Think about a person in our school who keeps getting 100% in every subject (besides of course English), and he is a superstar in sports teams. You soon learn that he is a genetically modified baby, who is given superior intellect and physical ability. How would that make you feel? Naturally hate no?
When everyone is at the top, there will be no one at the bottom. That means that everyone will have a high standard of intellect and other things. This means that the whole world standards are increased but it also means that no one fills the gaps at the bottom. Of course there are ways around it like robots doing the dirty work, but this will revolutionize the whole world.
First of all, only certain countries that can afford or have the technology of creating ‘super designer babies’ will make them. This means that there will be shifts in power as there would be more Captain America’s in some countries while none for others. If Hitler lived in our time his dream of ‘perfect soldiers’ would come alive.

PLAYING GOD?

Catholicism, rejects the idea of designer babies. It is believed to be playing God and we have no right to shape life. Pope Benedict specifically condemned genetic engineering and other scientific practices that allow people to select designer babies.
The Pope quoted “In developed countries, there is a growing interest for the most sophisticated biotechnological research to introduce subtle and extensive eugenics methods in the obsessive search for the ‘perfect child’”
It’s not only Christians, but many other religions believe that life is a sacred thing that was given to us by God, creating or manipulating is like making a mockery of God’s work (only if you take it that way).

CONCLUSION:
Designer babies are not necessarily a bad thing. I think that we are being optimistic when we say designer babies are ‘immoral and unethical’. There are many people in the world that suffer from genetic diseases and we should ask why them? A faulty gene of the parents changes the entire life of an individual. If we limit our genetic modification, i.e. only use it to prevent disorders and not completely pick what features the baby should have, this world would be a better place. This does not mean I’m entirely for designer babies. There is another major problem with designer babies not mentioned above. In biology we learned that to ensure survival, biodiversity is important. So if we completely create designer baby, and an environmental factor that does not favour the designer babies come, the human race will reach extinction. But, when there are different people, not all the population will die, in fact the resistant ones will reproduce and pass the genes and create a greater biodiversity.
href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CVARGHE%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml">

I mean come on, to make this blog interesting, I can’t just talk about the negative sides of designer babies. There should be at least a couple of people who kinda agrees with designer babies to have a exciting debate. Besides you never know how many countries actually started this genetic modeling behind the public back.
Is it unethical? Maybe and maybe not, depending on how you look at it
href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CVARGHE%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml">
WORK CITED

href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CVARGHE%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml">

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4493203.stm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/19/tech/main559430.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/03/earlyshow/health/main4840346.shtml

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/End%20of%20the%20World/Genetics%20Nightmare/designer_babies.htm

http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bio/great-designer-baby-controversy-%E2%80%9909

Deforestation in the Amazon

Question: Many Scientists consider humans as the most invasive species, as humans can greatly change an environment and impact living things that reside there. Are we being stewards of the world? Tale a look at an issue in which human intervention has positively or negatively affected the biodiversity of our ecosystem.

Humans are indeed considered invasive species of the world that can change an ecosystem to an extent where no other living things can survive in the ecosystem. This is mainly because of our increased consumption of natural resources that destroy every other living thing in that ecosystem. I remember watching Matrix reloaded where smith (evil guy) said that humans are similar to a virus, simply because they never try to co-exist with an ecosystem. Instead they consume and deplete resources in one ecosystem and then move on to the next. This is exactly how a virus would behave. In this blog, I will talk about the Amazon forest and how human intervention has affected its habitants and the entire ecosystem.

The Amazonia (Amazon rainforest) is situated in South America and covers over half of Brazil. This forest is one of the world’s greatest natural resources due to the continuous cycle of carbon-dioxide to oxygen. Amazonia is also called the “Lungs of our Planet”, because around 20% of the Earth’s oxygen is recycled by this rainforest. This magnificent forest harvests over 500 mammals, 175 lizards and over 300 other reptile species. Yet despite this paradise, 20% of the forest had been deforested to a point of no re-growth. Between 1991 and 2000, the total area lost in Amazon rose from 415 000 to 587 000 km2. All this deforestation, has largely affected the species living in that ecosystem and it would have affected the entire world. Much of this deforestation is active through Cattle ranches, small-scale (subsistence) agriculture, Large-scale (commercial) agriculture and lastly urbanization. With more than 30 percent of the world’s species found in the Amazon, we cannot afford to lose this vital area.

here is a video on biodiversity in the Amazon:

What are we loosing?

• The Amazon forest recycles over 20% of oxygen in the world. Making it a vital source for survival on Earth. Without this, global warming would be accelerated, making the blue planet an inhabitable wasteland.

• Scientist estimates that we are losing 137 plant and insect species every day, due to rainforest deforestation.

• Over 121 prescription drugs are sold worldwide that come from plant-derived sources. The problem is that while 25% of western medicine is derived from these tropical trees and plants, less than one percent of trees and plants are tested by scientists.
• There were estimated 10 million Indians living in the Amazonian Forest 500 years ago. Now, there are less than 200 000. Many of these tribes have shamans and medicine men that have researched the effects of medicinal plants and herbs. When these people die without passing their knowledge, thousands of years of knowledge about medical plants have been lost.
• There are at least 3000 fruits found in rainforests where only 200 are used around the world. The natives use over 2000. Fruits are an important part of our diet. The fruits that we don’t use might give us vital nutrients that can prevent many diseases.
• And many, many more... (refer to http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm for more information)

Impacts on species and environment due to the deforestation in Amazon

Rainforests holds much species because the climate within that ecosystem is suitable for a diverse range of plants and animals to survive. The warm, moist climate with lots of sunlight and water enables plants and animals to grow without limits. Now tropical forests only cover about 7 percent of the 14% the earth once had. This continuous deforestation has affected Amazonian species in too many ways. Deforestation wipes out animals living in that area, reducing their numbers. Many species cannot survive the rapid change in climate and they just die off. If you think about this with the statistics, 587 000km2 of animals die due to human deforestation. If that is considered murder, just think about how many charges we would get.

(deforested land)

Although rainforest appears to have a fertile soil, it is just the contrary. Soil in the Amazonia has very poor nutrients in their soil. This nutrient loss is due to the high precipitation which causes minerals to leach. 99% of all nutrients of the Amazonia are found on the decomposing litter found above the soil. When an area is completely deforested for farming, the farmer typically burns the vegetation to create a fertilizing layer of ash. But, due to leaching this nutrient reservoir is lost. This leads unto high rates of erosion and flooding. Without trees to hold the soil, much of the deforested ted land can easily be turned into a dessert.

Affect on regional and global climate regulation: Large scale deforestation in the Amazon shows a considerable reduction in the evapotranspiration (process of evaporation and transpiration from plants). This deforestation will impact the global climates of the whole world, changing the North Atlantic and European storm tracks and cooling of southern Europe. It will also warm up parts of Asia in the winter.

Effect on Carbon storage: The Amazon accounts for nearly 10% of the world biomass. The Amazon rainforest is a vital piece in storing the organic biomass, and thus keeps the greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. Due to continues forest reduction, stored carbon is released to the atmosphere, speeding up the effects of global warming.

Benefits of Deforestation to Humans

BRAZIL ECONOMY: Brazil’s economy is evidently depended on the Amazonian deforestation. The decline of deforestation in 1988-1991 marked the economic slowdown of Brazil. Similarly, the rocketing rate of deforestation from 1993 – 1998 matched the economic boost of Brazilian economy. The main causes of Brazilian deforestations are cattle ranching, small and large scale agriculture, and logging. Through these statistics, it is clear that humans benefit from the exploitations of nature’s natural gifts. We, humans need this much exploitations to become successful in our lives and lead a well maintained life. The only problem is that we don’t realize how much is sacrificed to achieve this goal.

In our religion classes, we have learned that humans are called to be the caretakers of this world and not its destroyers. God gave us dominance over all species and animals to take care of them using our brain. Yet, what’s happening now is contrary to what God has created us for. We basically survive from the continuous destructions of nature. An example would be from the Brazilian economy. Still, destruction is not all that we can do. We have realized many of our mistakes and have taken steps to fix them. Brazil’s new policy has bought down deforestation rates. We humans are capable of co-existing with nature’s species. The only problem is that we don’t realize the problems until we face them. We could have prevented all this if we had thought of the consequences beforehand. Our existence does not depend from invading ecosystems but it depends solely on the co-existence with nature’s most prized creations.

SOURCES:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/amazon.htm

http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_wildlife.html

http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/thegreengrok/amazonbiodiversity

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation/