I'd like to order a Designer Baby please!

Question:
Are things getting out of hand with our research into genetic processes? In this blog investigate social and ethical implications of this research and technologies that have been developed from it.


With technology comes the negative and positive feedback from society. If we look at the big picture, we'll be able to see that technology has done so much for our well-being and that it has saved countless lives over the years. But the question is when is does it go too far?
The question has been raised after the controversy of having designer babies brought much attention from our concerned society.


Before we start creating assumptions and judgments, we must first understand the term 'Designer Babies'. Designer babies is the modern term we use to describe the medical process of 'Genetic Engineering' , which is genetically enhancing or engineering a fetus during fertilization in the result that it will have gain or loose certain characteristics.

We all have our personal opinions on this issue, but has technology really gone too far in a way where it has interfered with nature? In my opinion, yes. Though I may only understand my perspective of the issue, and could never imagine how I might feel if the tables turn, I believe that this issue goes beyond my belief. However, I think it is only fair to explore both sides of this issue.

For some families, it is not about having the 'perfect' baby, but a healthy one. With the help of this procedure, the chances of the offspring being born with a genetic disorder is reduced. This technique may be a blessing for parents who have a tendency of producing offspring with genetic disorders, a procedure such as this can greatly increase the life span of the child and even save it.

In other cases, doctors as well as couples have taken complete advantage of the purpose of the process and used it in a matter where the importance of having a 'perfect' baby is much more important than having a healthy baby. There have been reports where clinics have been offering pre-implantation procedures to couples, in which they are able to screen the embryos for its gender, hair and eye color as well as its complexion. Further more, it allows the parents to have a choice of altering the characteristics of their future children by giving them the chance to choose whatever physical characteristics they want, from the complexion to hair color, for them, the sky is the limit.

So, is this really how superficial we human beings have gone? We can not even have babies of our own without being unhappy with it. Procedures such as this give people the opportunity to 'design' their babies as easy as choosing the color of your nail polish. This procedure pushes the boundaries of beauty, in a way it distorts our perception of beauty. It gives a message to the general public that the only way of having beautiful and perfect babies are through designing them and that we are not good enough to be born without a few alterations to the characteristics that make us unique in the first place.



At this point, my understanding of 'designer babies' is much more clear and that I can really make my opinion about this controversial issue. Though it may have positive results for some participants that need this procedure to better not only their lives but their children as well, this procedure has opened the door for many people who are more interested in having perfect babies. First of all, I just think that people who are able to produce should feel grateful for being blessed with the chance of having children. The bottom line is, 'designing' our own babies instead of leaving the job to nature takes away the surprises and uniqueness that life has to give.

References:
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/25/designer-babies-like-it-or-not-here-they-come/
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html

Commented on:
Tammy Nguyen - http://tammy-bioblogtingz.blogspot.com/
Priscilla Chen- http://priscillasbioblog.blogspot.com/

What have we done?

Take a look at this picture. This is a sad reality for most of the species on earth nowadays.



Over the years, humans have slowly impacted our environment and its species
As our world moves forward; creating new and innovative ideas that bring convenience to ourselves we are oblivious to the negative impact it has on biodiversity. Human activities are held largely responsible for our ever changing environment as well as the threatened species in it. From cutting down trees to over fishing, we are only risking the well being of our environment.

Although we've come far to get at this point, we've effected the earth more negatively than we'd have liked. Human activities such as fishing and agriculture have affected the ecosystem through the damage of their habitats. Face it or not- we're all guilty of contributing some kind of harm towards one specie or another. Human activities such as hunting and forestry are only a few factors to the reason why we have a threatened ecosystem.

As you've noticed, there has been a huge growth of human population over some time now.So you're asking yourself, how did this disaster come to be? Well, it started with the increase in the human population. The need for resources such as food and lumber increased in exchange for our survival. However, with the booming businesses of fishing and lumber industries, our biodiversity was left to suffer due to the increasing demand of resources from humans.

Along the way, habitats have been destroyed because of our invasive ways. Species such as deers have been forced to adapt to different habitats because of the on going transformation of their surroundings. Without their proper habitats, maintaining a healthy environment for them to produce actively decreases along with the resources available for them to sustain life. The lack of these essential eventually lead to the extinction of a variety of species. According to the World Conservation Monitoring center, the highest cause of animal extinction is due to Habitat Destruction



Aside from human population and habitat destruction being factors to our threatened biodiversity, activities such as hunting have caused a disruption to our ecosystem. The disturbing part of this is the fact that the majority of hunting is done illegally, also known as poaching. Over hunting has led to the extinction of many species, these vast majority of extinct species then create the domino effect, which occurs when the food chain is derailed and all of its involved organism are affected.


By now i think that most organism on this earth look to us as their mortal enemy, the people who bring darkness and despair to their lives- if we were stewards of the world I doubt we would even be in this mess!

The whole ecosystem is affected by one another, when human population increases, the need for resources also increases to suit our needs. When there are more of us, the more accommodation is needed for us to sustain our survival on earth, but we are oblivious to the harm we bring to the rest of the species we live with. The majority of the re-occurring issues we face today that involves biodiversity can simply be blamed on humans. We are, in my opinion, the most intellectual beings on this earth, with such power I think that we have the potential to serve it with the dignity it needs.

Sources

http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/conservation/activities.htm
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/forestry/
http://www.fathom.com/course/21701785/session2.html
http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/310http://images.google.ca/images?gbv=2&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&sa=1&q=endangered+polar+bears&btnG=Search+images&aq=5&oq=endangered+&start=0

Blogs I commented on:

Tammy Nguyen: http://tammy-bioblogtingz.blogspot.com/
Priscilla Chen:http://priscillasbioblog.blogspot.com/