Stop Before It's Too Late!

            LEAVE THE ANIMALS ALONE              

    We see this issue playing out almost everyday of our lives. When we walk by a fast food place or purchase a meal from somewhere like McDonalds, we are unknowingly apart of what's occuring. When we start munching on those delicious chicken nuggets, we aren't concerning ourselves with where it may have come from.

     Little do we know that farmers now adays, working with industrial agriculture, are fattening their chickens to meet the high demands of poultry within our societies. They are changing the typical image of a chicken to large, plump, and fat. The success of the agriculture industry has come at a high price. The animals deserve to be treated with dignity. Not only is the agriculture industry keeping up with the rapid growth of the global human population, but they are going above and beyond. They are doing more than is required which is putting others in jeopardy.

     Chickens are apart of the few highly productive livestock breeds that most of us consume from a day to day basis. While these highly productive livestock are continuing to produce in vast amounts, genetic diversity is slowly being reduced. Some less productive breeds are even becoming extinct from our selfishlike ways. Not only is the agricultural industry slowly affecting our organisms and species, but they are also polluting the air , bodies of water and some of our ecosystems. Their methods of factory farming are releasing harsh pollutants into our atmosphere, creating a risk for our health.    

     There are, however, those out there who are determined to practice moral and ethical duties when it comes to producing food for the general public. Sustainable agriculture is a method of farming that acknowledges how important it is to have harmony between what we eat and our environment. They are not the favourable industry at this time because their food is more expensive compared to the cheap and affordable foods the industrial agriculture organizations are producing. These particular benefits do not outweigh the risks of distorting the organisms of our environment.

Our health and well-being and the well-being of our environment is much more important than accessing cheap and convenient foods. We must make sustainable agriculture a priority as opposed to having it as an option to possibly consider in the furture. The time is now!

Sources Used:

http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/airpollution/

www.tutorvista.com/biology/industrial-activities-causing-water-

wn.com/how_factory_farms_poultry_industry_pollute_the_water

Hyperlinks:

http://www.waynebioblog.blogspot.com/

www.adorablogs.blogspot.com

What's Wrong With My Baby?

Would you want to choose how you want your baby to look from a flyer or a catalogue, making sure it's up to par and meets your every need? Has society actually come to this? Why couldn't we appreciate the gift of life and not have to dwell upon how our children will look physically or what they might have to endure?

     Sometimes genetic disorders (such as Down Syndrome and TaySachs disease) discovered in the mother's womb, before the baby is born, urge parents to abort the child when still in the womb to prevent from living a medically strenuous life. Using tests like amniocentesis and CVS (Chorionic Villus Sampling), doctors can detect birth defects in the unborn child and then parents can discuss to abort the fetus. These tests, however, are not always accurate. Is that a sufficient reason to end the life of an innocent child? Does this give us the right to decide whether or not a child deserves to live? We shouldn't have to put lives at risk for any needless reason.

     There is technology among us to screen human embryos for specific genetic traits. However, where do we draw the line between disease prevention and creating “designer babies”?

     The procedure that has many people concerned is called, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. The technique was developed for use with in vitro fertilization to help identify embryos that would be afflicted with fatal or devastating diseases. After embryos have been fertilized, PGD uses DNA analysis to identify embryos with genetic defects like Down’s syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, Huntington’s disease, and cystic fibrosis. There are about 200 diseases and conditions that can be tested for. Parents undergo the genetic testing to make sure that the embryos they choose to transplant don’t have the genes that cause these diseases. Embryos that test positive can be discarded, and the genes eliminated from the gene pool.

     In the past, the only way to test for genetic diseases before birth was through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, both happen farther along in pregnancy. Testing an existing pregnancy is risky, because if a genetic defect is found, the couple would be left with the unpleasant choice of having a disabled child or aborting the pregnancy. PGD prevents couples from having to make that decision, since only healthy embryos are transplanted. This procedure is quite expensive.

 

     PGD is most often recommended for two types of couples: those with family histories of inheritable diseases, and older parents. PGD seeks to eliminate the disease from the family bloodline and ensures that the child is healthy. PGD can help them by identifying normal healthy embryos, which have the best chances of developing into healthy pregnancies.

     In my opinion, we should let nature take its course. The precious lives of our children are at risk.

Sources used:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2004/jul/22/sciencenews.health3
http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/25/designer-babies-like-it-or-not-here-they-come/
http://www.divinecaroline.com/22093/72073-designer-babies-idea-slippery-slope
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html

Hyperlinks: http://adorablogs.blogspot.com/
http://bioblog-erica.blogspot.com/