On 9th of March, our class had three pleasant and interesting discussions. There were supporters, non-supporters and a moderator for each topic discussed. The first discussion was about the green chemistry, the second was about carbon-capture and storage method and the third was about using bio-diesel.
The first group discussed about the necessity of green chemistry in Singapore. They were mainly concerned about the bio-degradable plastic bags. The supporting team stated that the government should implement the process of making bio-degradable plastic bags, which will in turn also reduce the green house gas emitted into the atmosphere. They also strongly agreed the necessity of the bio-degradable plastic bags as they are renewable and less polluting to the environment. The opposing team argued that, the implementation of such bags plastic bags will be expensive and people will prefer buying cheap normal plastic bags.
The second group discussed about the well known topic to all students in EG1471, Carbon-capture and storage (CCS) method. The supporting team stated that the CCS method will benefit the countries to reduce the global warming. The CCS system has its own leakage warning device associated with it, so that any damage from disasters like earthquake can be prevented in advance. The opposing team argued that, the usage of CCS technique is not useful to all the countries because developing countries like India, China, Thailand, and Vietnam can spend the money on other more important issues in their country other than spending on CCS method. They also talked about the spacious problem that will arise to countries which are not surrounded by water.
The third discussion was about the usage of bio-diesel made from soya bean. The supporting team stated about the advantages of bio-fuel and the simplicity of making it from soya. It is less expensive and it will also reduce the emission of carbon dioxide into the environment. But the opposing team argued that regardless of its expensiveness, the engines using such bio-diesels will get damaged if not properly cleaned. The big disadvantage is that the bio-diesel has high freezing point, so that the diesel may get freeze in cold countries.
In my opinion, all the three discussions were thoughtful but they also have their own advantages and disadvantages in them. The disadvantages can be reduced by doing more research in that field.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Ethical Issues of Designer Babies
There are always two common ethical questions raised by the people when considering designer babies. The first question is concerned about the safety and the second question is can they morally be defended. Designer Babies are created by IVF (in vitro fertilization) in which the embryo created are then modified for specific characteristics and kept inside a womb. Genetic Engineers have proved the possibility of bringing in the resistance to disease and invoke babies with athletic abilities.
Even though scientist has tested these characteristics with the mice for NR2B gene, there are several safety issues when injected into human. They are as follows
1) NB2R is injected at random places inside the genome. This might disrupts other gene functions.
2) Genes have more than one effect when injected into living organisms. Even in the case of mice, the injection of NB2R not only increases the learning and memory power but also make them high sensitivity to pain
3) A gene when combined with other genes are more likely to affect intelligence.
PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) is a technology used to prevent passing disease to children from their parents. They use IVF to create collection of embryos which is later grown to the eight-cell stage. At this point some cells are removed and tested for genetic diseases.Only embryos tested with no symptoms of disease will be introduced into the womb. Even though this method is expensive, people are going for this concerning the health of the child. According to Dean Hamer, gene like VMAT2 increases the child's capacity to reach out beyond them. Even though PGD doesn’t involve genetic modification of human embryos, the removal of one or two cells from the eight-cell embryos might risk the well-being of the child. But the PGD supporters are still arguing that there will not be any problem associated with the removal of cells from the eight-cell embryo. But the technology has not yet proved who is right in this dispute.
Another method for selecting the characteristics of a child is through cloning. Cloning is done by transferring a nucleus from the person whom you want to clone and it is introduced into a egg cell initially with removed nucleus and then inserted into the womb. Even though the parents can clone from famous persons like Angelina Jolie or Roger Federer, there is no guarantee that the child made by cloning will have the characteristics that the parents want in the future. According to the author of the article, many parents are not ready to create their children by cloning; this is because major concerns are about the health of the clones. Previous records show that the animal clones suffer from a variety of disease which might happen in human also. There is a big important question among parents and opposers of GE that "are we preventing disease or enhancing attributes?". According to Francis Fukuyama, genetic enhancements in human will make them lose their humanity. Therefore, he suggests that there should be limits for these enhancements. The genetically enhanced child is described as "posthumans". But there were already accidental posthumans among us like Einstein and Ray Charles who achieved beyond the norm in their area of endeavor.
As a conclusion, there are two main advantages for creating a designer baby which includes preventing disease and introducing NR2B gene which makes the child go beyond them in some area. But if government encourages this without any regulations, genetically enhanced people will take the lead in the future which may bring the social arrangements into an end.
Reference:
Nicholas Agar (2006). Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations. Retrieved March 15, 2009. http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html#primer
Even though scientist has tested these characteristics with the mice for NR2B gene, there are several safety issues when injected into human. They are as follows
1) NB2R is injected at random places inside the genome. This might disrupts other gene functions.
2) Genes have more than one effect when injected into living organisms. Even in the case of mice, the injection of NB2R not only increases the learning and memory power but also make them high sensitivity to pain
3) A gene when combined with other genes are more likely to affect intelligence.
PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) is a technology used to prevent passing disease to children from their parents. They use IVF to create collection of embryos which is later grown to the eight-cell stage. At this point some cells are removed and tested for genetic diseases.Only embryos tested with no symptoms of disease will be introduced into the womb. Even though this method is expensive, people are going for this concerning the health of the child. According to Dean Hamer, gene like VMAT2 increases the child's capacity to reach out beyond them. Even though PGD doesn’t involve genetic modification of human embryos, the removal of one or two cells from the eight-cell embryos might risk the well-being of the child. But the PGD supporters are still arguing that there will not be any problem associated with the removal of cells from the eight-cell embryo. But the technology has not yet proved who is right in this dispute.
Another method for selecting the characteristics of a child is through cloning. Cloning is done by transferring a nucleus from the person whom you want to clone and it is introduced into a egg cell initially with removed nucleus and then inserted into the womb. Even though the parents can clone from famous persons like Angelina Jolie or Roger Federer, there is no guarantee that the child made by cloning will have the characteristics that the parents want in the future. According to the author of the article, many parents are not ready to create their children by cloning; this is because major concerns are about the health of the clones. Previous records show that the animal clones suffer from a variety of disease which might happen in human also. There is a big important question among parents and opposers of GE that "are we preventing disease or enhancing attributes?". According to Francis Fukuyama, genetic enhancements in human will make them lose their humanity. Therefore, he suggests that there should be limits for these enhancements. The genetically enhanced child is described as "posthumans". But there were already accidental posthumans among us like Einstein and Ray Charles who achieved beyond the norm in their area of endeavor.
As a conclusion, there are two main advantages for creating a designer baby which includes preventing disease and introducing NR2B gene which makes the child go beyond them in some area. But if government encourages this without any regulations, genetically enhanced people will take the lead in the future which may bring the social arrangements into an end.
Reference:
Nicholas Agar (2006). Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations. Retrieved March 15, 2009. http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html#primer
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