Matt's+Essay

=Genetics…=

media type="file" key="mattl-genetics-essay-0910.mp3"

Genetics, the genome, cloning, custom medicine, stem cells, and privacy these are all issues that have only become well known or even known in my life time so far. The diversity and the outcome of these are so vast that it could tickle our brains for hundreds of more years. The human genome has been completely mapped and available to anyone willing to pay money to find out theirs, but is the availability to know our genetics a positive or negative thing? Could it help with medicine or just hinder our life’s and put us in the dark about things? With genetics and the genome is a direct route to cloning which can be just as controversial of an issue. Is it right? Is it ok for some animals or humans and not for others? What should be used? Stem cells? Is it ok period? These are all areas that are argue able and is all a personal view for. So here is mine. The human genome is a complex map of everything possible for a human. It could tell u how likely you are to have cancer or how strong your immune system is, everything can be found out. But the central question with this is, is it necessary to map your genome? And if so should it become public knowledge or should it be kept between you and your doctor? To me I wouldn’t mind knowing what I am most genetically mapped for. If I’m going to get cancer I want to know, so that I can take precautions and avoid anything that I can to not get it. I would want this because it is my body and I want to know. I do not think that this should be public knowledge though. If I want to talk about it with my doctor I should be able to, I don’t want my neighbors and friends or even family knowing, I just want to know. I don’t think that health insurance companies should have the knowledge either, they could ask for the knowledge after acceptance but should not be a deciding factor in your personal health. A positive aspect of mapping the human genome and finding out your own genetics is that it opens up the ability to engineer medications that are specific to our own body. With the ability to know what we are resistant to or what our body reacts less to we would be able to make medications that are the strongest and the most useful for our body’s so that we get the best outcome from the least amount of medication taken. The outcome could make medications more expensive because it takes away generic drugs but it also makes them more useful. Genetic engineering is a whole field of study and science that I am not particularly interested in taking part in. The reason this is because I don’t want to play god. The ability to make our kids have blonde hair, blue eyes, be 6’3, 200 pounds, and a super genius all while leading the football team to a state victory is not my slice of pie. The reason being is that I want my kids to be me, no matter if it’s a bad thing or a good thing. Nature should take its course even if the kid is going to have Down syndrome or be a child with ADD or ADHD. I feel strongly about this because it is not a natural thing, people have been fine for hundreds of years without genetically inventing their children why should we start now? Gene cloning, transgenic crops and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).theses are three of the most controversial topics talked about this year. I personally have more connection to these because I wrote my 9th grade project on GMO’s. So GMOs have been thought to be able to help 3rd world countries cure there case of hunger. The easiness of being able to modified a apple for instance to resist worms and yield for crop for a 3rd world nation could take as little as 3 months and be developed here in the United States and mass produces for famers to puncher’s for their farms. But corporations should not be able to patent a gene for foods for long. For example the corn that is made to produce its own pesticides should only be able to own the “rights” to that crop for up to two years due to the natural cross pollination that happens and ends up spreading unwanted crops to farmers that are not paying that company for the crop, which in turn end up getting sued by the company for “stealing” their corps. But for a corporation to own a specific crop or gene for years and years and then go and collect payment on it from a farmer who didn’t use their seeds is unjust and should be criminal. Labeling of GMOs is indeed needed. Some people do not know if the GMOs are safe and do not cause issues or sickness. So if feel if we are given warnings on things like cigarettes and alcohol that we should be given the same pleasure with GMOs and they should be labeled. Reproductive cloning is a subject that I am not very versed in. I know that reproductive cloning is along the lines of animals and humans. That dolly the sheep is a product of reproductive cloning, so to me this is a vital use of our knowledge and our time. With this technology we can take a single sheep or cow or any animal in small villages in 3rd world nations and turn it into hundreds of animals. So with that then we can bring more animals to an area where there aren’t naturally that many. As this would apply to human being life’s it would bring forward the possibility to clone a loved one who recently died or who is a superior being like on the football field or in the swimming pool. This to me is not a good means of our time. This is a scary thought because if I had someone close to me die and then they were suddenly back alive and there I would be scared and problem not a fan of them. Also the world is to full anyway and is full of dumb people who would make copies of themselves and we would be a world full of dumb people. Therapeutic cloning is the major issue with cloning; it is the use of in this case embryonic stem cells. Stem cells that come for fetuses. The issue with this is that it comes from unborn children during a pregnancy. The upside to this is that we would be able to grow new parts for use or help someone who is quadriplegic be able to at least use his or her arms again if not be able to fully walk and have mobility. The bad part is that we have to take them from an unborn child which means the woman would need to have an abortion to be able to get to those cells. But the advancement is so large. So my point of view on this is that if the woman doesn’t want to be pregnant anyway and is in sound mind and sound feelings then they should be able to do with their baby what they want to. To me a child is a child and a living being after they are born and are no longer inside the mother, which in turn makes me a pro-stem cell person. The points I talked about in the paper are my personal views on it. I believe that if we don’t work on advancing our society, whether that comes from stem cells or GMOs we need to advance the way we develop and harness are foods and technology. Our society is growing faster and stronger but the amount of natural and manmade resources we have is running low and we are barely making it by. So what I’m asking you is to make your mark leave you heart and help out your fellow man, so that others may live.