Jackie's+A's+Essay

=ESSAY ON FEAR!= media type="file" key="jackiea-genetics-essay-0910.mp3" width="240" height="20"

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FEAR. It is what runs all of the decisions we make in life. The fear of the unknown can be daunting, but what if fear had stopped Columbus from sailing the seven seas, America would not have been found that day and became the great nation it has become now. Why are we letting fear get in the way of helping others? Genetically modified food could help thousands in third world countries, therapeutic cloning could save millions who are dying due to organ failure, yet we are going to let the fear of the unknown stop us from helping these people? So many times we have tested the waters, and then made up the rules after, like abortion or in vitro fertilization. Yes, not all of the kinks have been worked out for these touchy topics, but things work well enough so our country is functioning – which is exactly what would happen with most types of coning. But because most Americans instantly think of making duplicates of ourselves when they hear the word coning they shun away from it. Ignorance is NOT bliss. If science provides the means to create something, there is a reason why we were given those resources; God would not give them to us if he did not want us to use them. He is not testing us. If God gave us resources it is our job to use them to further help man kind. We do not know the maximum capacity of cloning and genetically modified foods if we do not test it first. We need to test the waters and make up the rules after instead of letting fear get in our way. If things get out of hand then we can make laws to reduce use but if we never try we are never going to succeed. And in a life where there is increasing competition to live due to antibiotic resistant strains and cancer cells (that cannot be contained), we must try everything in our power to help the progress science until cures are found. We are using our natural instincts to progress in this life, just like natural selection. We want our generation to live on strong and healthy like the one before. If other females find a male attractive than others are more likely to want to mate with that male, to make more physically attractive babies in the hope that their babies are more attractive and will make more babies. By using cloning we can make healthier babies, which are more desirable, and therefore are just using our instincts to get ahead like we always have done. This helps ensure grandchildren and ability to have the family name live on, but instead the fear of what is “known”, but in actuality people do not know, is off setting the balance of nature and how we human beings work. Some say we are playing God, but really it depends on who your God is. IS your God a loving God or a punishing God? Many are in fear that they will be punished by the church if they mess with “God’s creation” which is not the kind of God I have. My God loves everyone for who they are whether they are genetically modified or not - it is about the spirit, because that is what makes the person, not their genetic DNA which could make them have a better life without given diseases. I do not believe someone’s spirit would change if given a genetic disease, therefore eliminating these diseases would be essential. Suffering builds character but in all honesty, we have enough suffering without the help of genetic diseases, and the pros of less suffering outweigh the character building. We can use science to cure diseases that are painstaking, and could make life less painful for others. How would u tell your child with sickle cell, well I could have made it possible for you not to have this disease but decided against it? Only one family would have to pay for a child to be genetic disease free and then after that it would be a domino effect where the rest of the babies would not have to deal with the diseases. Yes, there would be babies who may come out deformed when first changing the genetic make-up, but that’s the risk for helping the whole human race. The question is, are we willing to take that risk, or are we still to afraid of the unknown. Privacy is always a concern, what if the government uses the information against us? Well there are always going to be a million WHAT IF’S for a given circumstance, and Americans need to stop doubting those who know the most about the topic. Are we really going to worry about the government finding out our DNA and using it against us, when we could be saving a child from tay-sachs or type 1 diabetis? It is selfish to worry about such things when such progress could come. In addition, the benefits of DNA sequencing would include medicine that is specific to you. If a person was in fear of knowing the truth about their DNA, but wanted to live longer, they could get it sequenced and then be given medication to help prolong their life without knowing what it was for. I would not recommend this, but fear is sometimes eminent. Our world is encompassed in evil, and I would like to be able to have a child who did not have to worry about being at a genetic disadvantage amongst all the other things that may be hard ships for them. Any person who says they would not want that is insane. Why do we insist on keeping these evils in life, is there not enough to go around as it is? This science could help others achieve things they never dreamed of, and relieve suffer. If the argument of not being able to pay for the genetics to be altered the reality is you are not ready to have a child anyways. As far as diversity goes, what makes a human different from another is their spirit, if we all looked alike, but had different cultures, and backgrounds like we do now we would still see each person as an individual. We are all humans though we look different and every human is unique. A genetic disposition is not going to be what makes one person different from another, because there are many more facotors than this. Should foods that are genetically modified be labeled? Honestly I would not mind if my food was modified or not, the reason it is modified is to produce the best product for the human, like the strawberry that has a fish gene so it does not get cold. This is to ensure that our food comes out the way we like to eat it. Is that so wrong? Why far something just because it is not what your use too? Honestly, I do not get the point of reproductive cloning. Society is never going to let us grow another human so we may take their liver, it is just not humane. The only way I feel like I would accept reproductive cloning would be if it helped other us further understand another type of cloning. It would also be cool to take someone who like myself who has alcoholism, and clone me, put my new person in a new environment and see if they still end up an alcoholic. It would be a good experiment, but not a practical one, and not one that society is ready for. I am not sure why people are against taking embryos that are already going to be discarded and using them to help other people. It would definitely be the choice of the mother, and she should be stipend if she decides too, but any women who would not give her cells to help another human is selfish. It is like organ donating, who would want to put their remains in a box, 6 feet under when it could go to a child who is dying because she was born with a broken heart? Honestly, I do not see anything wrong with giving people money to donate their embryo’s either, they would be saving peoples lives to grow new organs, and the mothers would have less periods which would make me happier. Why not get paid so you are less hormonal? And if a women donated all her eggs, and decided she wanted to have a baby later it would not be hard to take another egg and insert her DNA and match it with a sperm so she could reproduce again. In conclusion fear runs peoples lives, and that’s how they make their decisions. I believe in God, not in fear. Gods will runs my life, not my own petty fear. It is offensive that this fear gets in the way of helping millions, and saving countless lives.