Thursday, December 01, 2005
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
breaking the silence
alright friends, i desperately need some opinions on a fairly touchy subject. this a subject for an english essay, but i am having a hard time finding my solid ground. the subject is:
reprogenetics: choosing between boy/girl, eliminating the tendency for obesity or alcoholism, athletic ability, even left-handedness. Before you say "no way," consider the ability to alter our bodies to reject HIV.
xenotransplantation: we are breeding pigs, but not for pork! scientists remove single-cell embryos from a pregnant pig, inject a human gene into each cell, and then put them back inside a foster momma. remember we're talking about pigs here. the purpose for this is organ-harvesting. currently there is no way to get an organ for everyone who needs one. pigs could be the solution.
there are just so many more aspects to this contained in the reading that we've been assigned, my head is just spinning! some of the ideas are just absurd, but to who? everyone? just me? below is a copy of an email i sent to a classmate with similar beliefs, i'd love to hear your answers to these questions! (That means you kyle, todd, daniel, chad, angela, and janine!)
i think we are both on the same page of 'some of this is ok, but some is not.' here's an idea i came to/up with: legalize it and let each man decide for himself what is ok and what is not. how is this different from legalizing alcohol, riddellin, abortion, birth control, gambling, eating meat, or using chemicals for medicine instead of only natural ingredients? i don't think it is. at first i thought that it is not ok, that god should decide how a child is born, that only he should know a persons fate.. but this could provoke the non-believer to ask "so god wants me to have aids?" how is controlling HIV different from a flu-shot or chicken pox vaccine? surely there was a time when people were disgusted by the idea of transplanting organs from human to human, its still creepy! we breed animals to eat them, should we breed to use their organs? i dont agree with choosing the sex, weight, and eye color of a child, but those who do will answer to god. has he blessed us with the ability to reach these scientific breakthroughs, or is this another "apple?"
reprogenetics: choosing between boy/girl, eliminating the tendency for obesity or alcoholism, athletic ability, even left-handedness. Before you say "no way," consider the ability to alter our bodies to reject HIV.
xenotransplantation: we are breeding pigs, but not for pork! scientists remove single-cell embryos from a pregnant pig, inject a human gene into each cell, and then put them back inside a foster momma. remember we're talking about pigs here. the purpose for this is organ-harvesting. currently there is no way to get an organ for everyone who needs one. pigs could be the solution.
there are just so many more aspects to this contained in the reading that we've been assigned, my head is just spinning! some of the ideas are just absurd, but to who? everyone? just me? below is a copy of an email i sent to a classmate with similar beliefs, i'd love to hear your answers to these questions! (That means you kyle, todd, daniel, chad, angela, and janine!)
i think we are both on the same page of 'some of this is ok, but some is not.' here's an idea i came to/up with: legalize it and let each man decide for himself what is ok and what is not. how is this different from legalizing alcohol, riddellin, abortion, birth control, gambling, eating meat, or using chemicals for medicine instead of only natural ingredients? i don't think it is. at first i thought that it is not ok, that god should decide how a child is born, that only he should know a persons fate.. but this could provoke the non-believer to ask "so god wants me to have aids?" how is controlling HIV different from a flu-shot or chicken pox vaccine? surely there was a time when people were disgusted by the idea of transplanting organs from human to human, its still creepy! we breed animals to eat them, should we breed to use their organs? i dont agree with choosing the sex, weight, and eye color of a child, but those who do will answer to god. has he blessed us with the ability to reach these scientific breakthroughs, or is this another "apple?"
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