Designer Babies? what the heck!

This topic is very shocking! Who ever knew that our world has come to such a tragic state, that we have started to modify our own babies. The Bible states that we, humans are born in the image of God. Why are we trying to change that! Do you think God would want to look a certain way, or want his creation to start changing their ways? Our society is changing very drastically towards a negative path, and it is very disappointing to hear about such a shocking idea.

[1]Basically, designer babies is a name given by journalists to describe the frightening scenario of using genetic technologies to modify embryos and choosing desirable or cosmetic characteristics for their babies. [1]Now a days, advanced reproductive technologies are allowing parents and doctors to screen embryos for genetic disorders and selecting the healthy embryos. This will decrease the chances of a baby being born with genetic diseases.

I had found a video on Youtube, and if you have the chance please take a look at it. I know its 9 minutes long, but it will deepen you understanding of the topic. Most of my information is based on the video and its a really great tool that will help you understand the topic of Designer Babies.



How is this possible?

[1]A technique called InVitro Fertilization or IVF fertilizes the eggs with sperm in test-tubes outside the mother's body in a laboratory. Right now it is legal to carry out only two types of advanced reproductive technologies in humans. One involves choosing the type of spem that will fertilize the egg (this is used to determine the sex and the genes of the baby). The other technique screens the embryo for genetic diseases. In this case, only some embryo's (the good ones) are then implanted back into the mother's womb. The process is known as Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis.

Mice 2x larger than normal mouse?

Of course like all scientific outbreaks for the human body, they have to be tested on animals first. In this case, rats were chosen to lead this experiment. The very first gene that was added to an embryo was a gene coding for growth hormones. The growth hormone gene from a rat was placed into a mouse embryo and when the mouse was born and it grew up, it grew up to twice the size of a normal mouse. Oh my gosh! What could this lead to? Could humans grow twice as tall?

The Future of Designing Babies

In reality, an artificial gene carrying an endless number of genes could be built. With the creation of an artificial chromosome, in the laboratory scientists can create a brand new chromosome that has hundreds of new genes and we can take that entire chromosome and enter it back into the embryo. This gives the genome a greater chance of being modified. So if this continues, it might even be possible to buy artificial chromosomes off the shelf. A perfect chromosome for anything you wished: physique, height, hair color, eye color and even longevity. Something interesting that came up during my research was that, the modification of genes could also increase artificial intelligence. But before an artificial chromosome like that could be put into a child, it would have to be tested on animals first. For this they have chosen the chimpanzees, since they share 99% of human DNA, so technically they are identical to human beings.




Already put to use?

People around the world have already conducted this process of designing their own babies. [4]One example is a couple, by the name of Monique and Scott Collins who have learned to their delight two years ago, when their long-wished-for daughter Jessica was born after genetic pre-screening at a fertility clinic in Fairfax, Virginia. Jamie Whitaker is one of the sweetest designer babies, along with his predecessors Adam Nash from Colorado in 2000 and an anonymous British girl in 2002. So as you can see many babies have already born with the use of this technology. Surprisingly before writing this blog, i never heard of it. That is a picture of Jamie Whitaker, one of the designer babies.











Consequences of Designing Babies

[5]This process is not cheap, and costs at least $20 000.00 according to newsvine.com. Looks will start to take over what really matters in this world. People are going to be judged based on looks, which will lead to segregation. What happens to the people who cannot afford this special treatment? What happens to them? Obviously they will be put aside. After all that, history will repeat itself and we would soon have ourselves another crisis where people will be segregated based on how they look. Do we really need all that?Although this technology has its benefits, people would not understand that and think beyond the big picture. So preventing such genetic disorders in a child when they are born is a great support for the cause, but would we really understand it that way. I can predict right now that this technology will start being put into the wrong use and it will get out of control.























Like I said in the beginning, creating the perfect baby is just plain wrong. Biotechnology is not used that way. It is suppose to provide aid to certain situations and finding cures to illnesses. How could you possible think of messing with a babies genes? Why are we trying to ruin the anxiety which builds up when you have the baby and you wonder what it would look like? Why would you want to ruin that special moment when you take the first look at your baby? It's magic which is showered onto us by the blessings of God. Why are we trying to play around with that? I do not approve to the cosmetic benefits of this technology, and if you have any views on this topic please share them.

[1] http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
[2] http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989987,00.html
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9ep4B9Hw0
[4] http://www.mindmagazine.com/story/designbaby.htm
[5] http://malathy.newsvine.com/_news/2006/05/16/198093-designer-babies-cost-us19000

The Circle of Life- what goes around, comes around

Watch and carefully take a look at this video.



In this video, two polar bears were living their daily lives, but started to realize that something was wrong. The ice in which they lived in most of their lives, started to sink and they were discussing what could possibly cause the sinking of ice. They come up with bizarre conclusions but in the end, they question that humans might have played a part in it. One of them says, "Do you think for one moment, that the humans would do this to us?"

Well, do we? Do we actually realize that every single action we do to comfort ourselves has an effect on this beautiful planet and everything within it. No, we don't! Do we realize it when we buy a luxurious car with high fuel consumption, that we will be polluting the atmosphere? Do we realize that when we are too lazy to turn that light off before we sleep, that we will waste energy which in turn, causes the burning of fossil fuels, which in turn, causes greenhouse gases that will pollute our atmosphere? Again, no we don't! All the things we do have a chain affect and the outcome of it harms our planet. All that we do now, will come back to us in the future and it is already starting to show that sign in the form of Global Warming.

Naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere act like the glass that covers the Earth by trapping heat from the sun so that the Earth's temperature is warm enough to sustain life for humans, plants and animals. That glass is slowly starting to crack as a result of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are being released into our atmosphere, destroying those naturally occurring gases. This is known as Global Warming. We, humans have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by almost 20% from 1958 to 2004. [1] This has caused the surface temperature to increase drastically in the last 10, 000 years. [1] If this doesn't reduce in the upcoming years, Earth's biodiversity might come to an end.

The effects of Global Warming have affected the mighty polar bear, also known as Ursus Maritimus. This is the world's largest bear species and the largest land carnivore. These species habitat on ice especially in the Arctic Sea, and depend on it for most of their survival such as, feeding, mating, traveling and giving birth. The polar bear is a very unique specie due to its ability of adapting to harsh and freezing temperatures. These polar bears have not one, but two layers of fur and can survive temperatures as cold as 50 below zero Fahrenheit [4]. Did you know that although polar bears fast during maternity, they are highly alert and reactive and although they do not eat, drink, or urinate they not only survive during maternity, but even grow [1]. As you can see, polar bears have capabilities that even exceed humans. Bears do not develop osteoporosis because bears never lose bone mass. So if we keep these species alive for a long time and derive insights from their ways of living, we can lead to new treatment options for osteoporosis. Therefore, polar bears are such a unique and important part of our biodiversity that they can even help humans in the future, find for cure certain diseases.


Unfortunately, these mighty hunters are most likely to be extinct by the end of this century due to Global Warming [1]. Global Warming shrinks the Arctic Sea up to 5% every 10 years [3]. If you do the math, in the next 200 years or less, the Arctic Sea will be totally wiped out off the face of the Earth. Due to the shrinking of ice in the Arctic Sea, most of the polar bears are forced to live ashore during summer fasting. Also, many reports of polar bear deaths have occurred due to drowning since their home ground has melted away[4]. Also, if the Earth's temperature starts to increase, the polar bears will overheat because as I mentioned above, every part of their body is designed to prevent heat from escaping and they cannot simply survive if the temperature of the Arctic keeps increasing. All this boils down to Global Warming and if this keeps up, the polar bear will be like the dinosaurs, EXTINCT!

Something needs to be done, and soon before it’s too late. Humans are so intelligent that they have created technology with cell phones having mp3 players and camera's, to body parts that work for the handicapped. So why can't we put an end to this! We are saving our own planet and in fact, our own lives! Stewards are people who take care of their surroundings. So, are we stewards of the Earth? Well, you can answer that yourself. Are we going to be stewards of the Earth? Yes we can, by making a change! For those of us who aren't as smart in building new technology to reduce Global Warming, we can do our small part by walking or taking the TTC instead of the driving the car, and turning off that light or computer before we head to bed and by not thinking about luxury, but standard. Like my mom says, is it a need or is it a want? So every time you plan on buying something that you want, which will have an effect on our biodiversity, ask yourself if you really need it. And, by doing all this we shall hopefully call ourselves "stewards of the Earth".

While I was browsing Youtube, I had also found another video concerning Global Warming. If you have the time, please take a look at it. It is very useful and informative and narrated by the famous movie star Leonardo Dicaprio.



[1]http://www.daversitycode.com/earthscope/
[2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDIP71Lviys
[3]http://www.naturecanada.ca/climate_change_polar.asp
[4]http://www.bearplanet.org/global-warming-polar-bears.shtml
[5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3pujlkSTqo