Designer Babies

Not very long ago, creating a baby was simple and didn't require much thought. But today, parents can gain access to the latest technology to test genes and determine their baby's sex beforehand. It is said that scientists are planning on enhancing gene modification to the extent that a great amount of attributes could be chosen for the baby. These attributes include the probability of their height, their body type, hair and eye colour, and even what illnesses they will be naturally resistant to, their IQ and type of personality. Parents may even be able to use the possibility of gene therapy enhancement in the future to take out undesired traits they have for their baby and put in the ones they want. Parents may begin to start "shopping" for their babies instead of creating them naturally and God-made. Are humans taking this all too far when it comes to genetic modification and selection?

How are babies "designed"? Since females contain 2 X chromosomes, it is up to the male who carries an X and a Y chromosome to determine the gender of the baby. Y chromosomes have less DNA than X chromosomes. By staining the sperm's DNA with a nontoxic light-sensitive dye in order to sort the sperms by gender. This process is risky for society however, because places such as China or India already favour one gender. Therefore, if they are able to choose favourably which gender or attributes they prefer, society will become so unequally balanced! That sounds a lot like creating robots or superkids not babies.

At the moment, the only traits which are able to be identified at the earliest stages of development are gender as well as a few of the most serious genetic diseases. The combination of genes responsible for most of our physical and mental attributes has not even been identified yet, although scientific research and technology are advancing. Scientists say that the purpose of creating these genetic modification and selection techniques for designer babies will be meant for medical reasons, mainly being the prevention of diseases. However, if parents everywhere are already aware that this type of technology is becoming available and they could literally design their babies, knowing that some medical clinics would allow for genetic modification without a medical reason, what's stopping them?

Of course though, because these genetic modification processes are still imperfect, social and ethical implications have and will continue to develop. When it was first known that choosing the gender of your future child's gender, many people were unsure of how to react or feel about it. It seemed so unnatural and mysterious.Implications which have arisen are whether genetic modification technology is safe enough to be used on humans as well as whether using them is a moral or immoral decision. It is true that genetic modification is being used for morally harmless benefits such as farmers who plant crops with altered genomes in order to make them resistant of pests or herbicides but the concern involves morality. A study at Princeton University was made using mice. Mice genomes were introduced to a copy of a gene called NR2B which plays a role in the brain. The resulting mice appeared to learn quicker than the other natural mice. The NR2B gene also exists in humans. Before speculating whether it will perform the same effect on humans though, safety concerns must be taken care of. There is a fear of the NR2B gene disrupting the function of another gene that is crucial for survival. Another is that multiple effects will occur because for the mice, even though their memory and learning skills were improved, they were also more pain sensitive. It is difficult to find solutions to these problems because finding the right combination of genes to make the right reaction isn't easy.

Blue tomatoes, mass productions of poultry and now designer babies. Are things getting out of hand with genetic research? I don't believe that there could be too much knowledge, so simply researching and experimenting is perfectly fine and I also think for serious medical purposes, GM is understandable. However, if people and parents are going to start using genetic modification for puposes such as cosmetic attributes, then yes things will get out of hand. Parents will begin to want to create perfect children of their exact preference. That is unfair to others and seems morally wrong to many. Humans are supposed to have flaws! Why not just stick to the natural way...

Sources:

Time- Designer Babies

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987-2,00.html

Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html

Stewards? No.

It is clear that humans have the greatest power on Earth among any other organism. Therefore, we should be stewards to our planet Earth. Unfortunately, a large amount of the human population does not care enough about the planet in order to do something about the decreasing biodiversity. I agree that humans can greatly change an environment as well as impact the surrounding living organisms. Planet Earth has changed in so many natural ways already within a time span of over 3.5 billion years due to natural forces and behaviour which include changes in the planet`s crust, ice ages, fire and interaction among species.

The environment is currently continuing to alter increasingly because of human activities. Human activities which have and will continue to change the earth include agriculture, urbanization and various commercial activities which affect Earth`s land surface. Also, one quarter of all bird species have become extinct and the majority of accessible surface water as well as a great amount of groundwater have been taken over and used for humans. It is horrible to think of, but an estimated 25% of all species could go extinct in just one decade, while animal and plant populations are currently declining in numbers as well as geographical spread. Humans may benefit from the uses for all of these activities, however, many ecosystems on Earth are suffering greatly because of these actions. Although species extinction on Earth may be natural, human activity still manages to increase the extinction rate by at least 100 times the natural rate. Therefore, humans indeed are stewards to the world, but are not making strong enough attempts to solve worldwide biodiversity problems.

More human activity related factors negatively affecting biodiversity are acidification of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, pollution including fossil fuels and coal mining, global warming, responses to natural disaster, desertification, manipulation of genetics in plants and animals, and much more.

At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. In addition, the richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change.

— The Convention about Life on Earth, Convention on Biodiversity web site.

The common insects, bees are crucial agricultural workers. One third of our fruits and vegetables would not exist without bees and other insects pollinating flowers. The primary species for fertilizing plants are the honeybees. However they have recently suffered dramatic declines mostly due to human actions. There are 130, 000 plants which bees have to pollinate. The job of the bees is more important than poultry when it comes to nutrition. Since the bees are essential for pollinated a great mass of plants, animals suffer as well. When the bee population declines and becomes unable to fertilize plants, plant-eating animals lose a number of plants to feed on affecting the rest of the organisms in the food chain like the carnivores, herbivores, etc.

Another recurring incident in our world takes place in the marine ecosystem concerning whales. Fishermen had campaigned for killing whales which threatened the fishing industry due to the fish supply. When the local whales population was reduced, the killer whales which normally preyed on these mammals went after other animals like the seal. As these numbers declined, otters and then urchins did as well. Eventually the killer whales went on to the kelp forests, the place where fish larvae grew. The fishermen were off at an even worse state than they were in the first place.

Humans are not very good stewards of the world- though they are given the power and the highest capability to be stewards. If fact, humans are so bad at being in charge of the world and its environment that biodiversity is continuously decreasing, putting all organisms eventually at risk.

SOURCES:

Biodiversity in a Changing World

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:fPWCjC49NRIJ:www.nycswcd.net/files/2009%2520Current%2520Issue%2520write-up.doc+human+intervention+affecting+biodiversity+of+our+ecosystems&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

Scientific Facts of Biodiversity

http://www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity/#6

Why is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares?

http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares