Ethical Implications of Cloning and Stem Cell Research Essay

Bio-medical breakthroughs in the fields of genetic and tissue engineering hold great promise. However, as modern medicine advances, it often poses major ethical issues on which people are seriously divided. The argument in favor of proceeding with research at unrestrained pace is mainly advocated by scientists and medical experts who would like to see some fantastic therapeutic benefits that science promises in the form of stem cell technologies. Scientists are absolutely thrilled by the possibilities looming on the horizon (Thompson, Harrub 2001c). On the other side of the debate are people, sometimes led by religious groups, who are concerned we may going too far too fast, using unacceptable means and in unknown directions. Stem cell research has the greatest potential for saving lives, but is controversial for its research based on embryos and fetuses (Rickard 2002). Stem cells are immature and unspecialized cells that that possess both the capacity to renew themselves indefinitely as well as the capability to differentiate themselves into specialized and mature cells. Mature cells, such as the heart’s myocytes or the liver’s hepatocytes, stop dividing after several dozen divisions, while stem cells can keep on dividing indefinitely, either renewing themselves or bringing out specialized cells. There are four types of stem cells in the human body 1) adult stem cells, 2) fetal stem cells 3) embryonic stem cells, and 4) nuclear transplant stem cells. For the first three months of pregnancy, a fertilized cell, or zygote, divides and grows in the mother’s womb and is referred to as an embryo. The embryo’s stem cells are the precursors of the development of a complete human baby. They produce all of the body’s various 100 trillion cells. It should become possible to use embryonic stem cells to regenerate any type of cell that the body needs. When the embryo assumes an apparent human body form, it becomes a fetus. Because the fetus is growing rapidly, all tissues and organs, including the brain, contain stem cells. It is for this reason that stem cell researchers are interested in studying fetal tissues. Studies suggest that human embryonic stem cells have immense potential in terms of developing into multiple tissue types and long-term self-renewal. Therefore, stem cell research entails the intentional creation of human embryos in the highly artificial context of an IVF clinic, using cloning techniques, and discarding them after their use for research is exhausted (Thompson, Harrub 2001a). The question to be resolved is whether research on embryonic stem cells constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights, in particular the principle of respect for human dignity and the right of life. However, many believe that conception/fertilization is not a moment but a process, and the early development does not indicate true individuality in any sense of the word, and therefore there is violation of human rights. The promise of embryo research, liberal-minded people tend to think, is too real to ignore any longer by sticking to conservative attitudes that stand in the face of pragmatism. And yet, even they would flinch at the possibilities of reproductive cloning. The difference between therapeutic cloning using embryonic stem cells (stem cell research) and reproductive cloning is the distinction between creating cloned body tissue or organs for therapeutic purposes and creating cloned human beings. Reproductive cloning is generally viewed as morally abhorrent because it is seen as unnatural and a â€Å"commodification† of human life, and it captures public fears about the power of science to pursue a eugenic agenda. When governmental organizations of today debate ban on human cloning, the main issue in such debates would be whether to ban outright all forms of embryo cloning, which a number of countries seem to support, or to permit the cloning of embryos for research purposes (therapeutic cloning/ stem cell research) while outlawing human reproductive cloning. Besides reproductive cloning, there is another untoward ramification to therapeutic cloning, which is cloning for enhancement. The issue of using advances in stem cell research for the purposes of enhancement, as against solely therapeutic purposes, opens up a Pandora’s box of all kinds of complications, ethical, social, psychological, philosophical and practical. For instance, stem cell approaches might help to cure Parkinson’s patients, but, in the not too distant future, they could also be used to improve brain functions. Rich people would be able to afford this therapy and poor people would not. This could create a most undesirable stratification of the society. But where does therapeutic cloning end, and enhancement cloning begin — even if cloning was advanced for purely therapeutic purposes, it would soon spread into the domain of enhancement. This is the argument of â€Å"slippery slope† commonly advanced against all biomedical research involving genetic and cellular manipulation. Last but not least, thanks to the promise that genetic engineering and human cloning research hold, the prospects of achieving capabilities for indefinite life extension even within the next twenty to thirty years are very high (Thompson, Harrub 2001b). The consequences of physical immortality for whole populations are simply inconceivable. But today, the possibility of human race becoming permanently deathless looms uncomfortably close to us. Therefore it becomes imperative that something be done to stem the advances of genetic and cloning research before the situation goes out of hand. A number of states have already enacted specific cloning-ban legislation, either banning the cloning of humans or imposing a moratorium on cloning within the state. Other states have taken action at least to consider formally similar legislation. At federal level, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003, which bans the process of human cloning for any purpose and the importation of any product derived from an embryo created via cloning, was passed by the U. S. House of Representatives on 27 February 2003. It was not ratified by the senate though. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2005 bans only reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic cloning. To date, federal regulations only prohibit federal funding for research into human cloning (Cash 2005). Though the science of bio-medical engineering is making rapid strides, and offers the promise of unveiling radical new therapies, simply the fact that a technology exists does not imply that anyone who can pay for it can be automatically allowed to use it. This is because the emerging genetic and cellular techniques and technologies raise all kinds of issues, ethical, philosophical, social, psychological and so on. They carry with them implications very difficult even to comprehend.

Health Issues in the Philippines Essay

DOH alarm: HIV cases in first-half 2012 exceed full year of 2010 The number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases during the first half of the year has already surpassed the record for the whole 2010, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday, underscoring the alarming rise in incidence of the virus that causes the dread disease AIDS. The bulk of the spike was traced to a rise in male-to-male transmission and the sharing of needles among injecting drug users in Cebu province. DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said for the month of June alone, 295 HIV cases were reported to the department, bringing to 1,600 the total number of cases in the first half of 2012. â€Å"We are halfway now for the year and that’s already more than the 1,591 for the whole year of 2010,† Tayag told reporters. In 2011, HIV cases were 2,349. This brings the total number of HIV cases in the country to 9,964 since 1984 when the DOH started reporting HIV/AIDS cases. Men having sex with men make up 87 percent of HIV transmissions recorded in the first six months of the year, with men aged 20-29 making up most of the cases. While MSM transmission has been the main mode of HIV transmission for a couple of years now, the DOH is particularly alarmed by a dramatic spike of cases involving injecting drug users (IDU) in Cebu City. â€Å"What we’re alarmed about is that for June there were additional cases of injecting drug use or person who inject drugs,† Tayag said. HIV among drug users reached 120 during the first half of the year alone, he added. From 1984 to 2008, there were only 8 HIV cases among drug users. â€Å"You will recall that in 2008 we only had 8 cases, now we have a total of 385 since 1984 when we started reporting HIV,† said Tayag, adding that all 120 HIV cases among IDUs this year were reported in Cebu City. Tayag admitted that HIV monitoring among drug users in Cebu had stopped for awhile, discouraging people who were injecting drugs from submitting themselves for AIDS testing. â€Å"In this period we stopped monitoring HIV among persons who inject drugs in that part of Cebu. For some time there was no fund so when we did a survey we saw that the number of HIV among drug users has increased,† he said. Tayag said unlike other drug users in some parts of the country, injecting drug users in Cebu City use regulated medicines. The virus is spread as they share unclean and contaminated needles. Tayag revealed that the government has started an HIV mapping, where parts of the country are labeled in terms of AIDS risk. Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao are tagged high risk. Read more:  Social Issues in the Philippines

Decadal Sand Bar Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Decadal Sand Bar Behavior - Essay Example Tough availability of the material is of equal importance in forming a sand bar; the size of the material of the Sand Bar depends on the size of the waves or the strength of the material. As a bar is merely a disposition of material by the water, in case of vessel grounding on these bars is worse off than grounding on stationary rocks. This is because of the more destruction caused by the shifting action of these materials. These bars can spread over a considerable range in size and length, from just a couple of meters in a small stream to large depositions stretching over hundreds of kilometres along a coastline, commonly known as barrier islands. Long shore currents or even fluvial currents in the shallow water coastal environments are responsible for the construction of submerged bars. These bars are strongly determined by the amount of unused sediment available along a shore. These sediments along the shore are called its "sand budget" and determine the number of bars that form along the coastline. The types of submerged bars and the orientations and shapes are controlled by the way the sediments are transported through the shore zone. Along the shoreline which is mostly dominated by waves, the shore current carry and deposit the sediments along the shore face in parallel bars to the shore. ... The phenomena of wave refraction and zone interaction are also responsible for creating shore currents that helps the disposition and transportation of sand particles in deep water. Tides also are a major medium of transportation of the sediments; submerged tidal bars which are perpendicular to the coastline are also formed due to these bidirectional tidal currents. There are tidal deltas which are kinds of submerged bars formed on either side of the island inlet due to the tides which transport sand into and out of coast through barrier island inlets. These submerged bars are also formed in places where the rivers enter the ocean. When fresh water from a curbed channel discharges into the ocean having salt water, the current becomes slow and deposit its sediment at the mouth of the river called the channel mouth bar. Many of these different kinds of submerged bars namely long shore bars, channel mouth bars and the tidal bars coexist in a same environment. This is due to the wave action and tidal currents which influence the shore to a great extent. Shore parallel and perpendicular processes create bars with intermediate curved or diagonally oriented structures. These submerged bars characteristically obstruct natural and man-made outlets into the ocean, and are hazards well know to the navigation. Offshore features of a beach include bars that that are formed at or off the shore of a sea or a river. There are times when large waves attack the beach shore-zone and some of the beach's sand is redistributed off the shore resulting in a sandbar or long shore bar. Due to these bars forms the waves start breaking and because these breaking waves set up currents towards the shore with a currents countering along the

Stem Cell Therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stem Cell Therapy - Essay Example Stem cells are capable of self regeneration and replicating itself, therefore giving birth to new generations with varying traits. The replication capabilities of these cells have the potential to replace the degraded areas of the body where diseases and injuries are located. The method of this new treatment is foreseen to be very effective due to the body’s tendencies to reject and experience side effects. One of the many forms of stem cell treatment is the Allogeneic Hematopietic Stem Cell Transplantation used as the main therapy practiced in hematologic malignancies. One of the more specific forms is the Myeloablative Hematopietic Stem Cell Transplantation found to be cure children with sickle cell disease. However, the same method proves to be disproportionately toxic to adults. (Naganska, 2009)2 Stem cell therapies are also used to treat myotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is a neurodegenerative disease. The characteristics of this disease is the loss of motor neurons fou nd in the spinal column, motor cortex as well as the brain stem which results to the dramatic reduction of a patient’s life span. It usually leads to the death of the patient, caused ultimately by respiratory failure that can happen between two to five years into the disease. This is one of the major challenges in the field of medicine, despite the vast researches in neurobiological sciences, as well as molecular and genetic researches. The introduction of stem cell therapy was accepted with optimism to regenerate the cells of patients in order to not only prolong the lives of the patients, but also to cure the disease altogether. One of the most common diseases known to us as a leading cause of death all over the world is heart failure. Though medicinal methods have been able to sustain and prolong the lives of the patients, no actual cure has been introduced to totally remove the cause of the problem. Researchers are optimistic with the results of some laboratory experiment s together with some clinical tests that cellular intervention can possibly improve the cardiac functions, by regenerating the cardiac itself. (NIH, 2009)3 It has been found that progenitor cells derived from the bone marrow as well as other similar progenitor cells that may be found in various parts of the body can make the distinction into vascular types of cells that would result to restoration of the blood flows. Recent findings proved that local cardiac stem cells exhibited differentiation, transforming into multiple cell types that are found in the heart. This recent finding is indicative that the heart is not that different. Stems cells are unique from the other cell found in the body. They have three common characteristics, and the source as to where the stem cells were harvested will not affect thes characteristics. Stems cells are capable of self renewal and dividing for over long periods of time. Secondly, stem cells are not specialized and lastly, they are capable of yie lding specialized cells types. (Naganska, 2009)4 Initially, when researchers conceptualized the experiments, they tried it with an adult mouse by injecting stems cells into the muscle of the left ventricular wall of the mouse’ heart. They also tried injecting a human adult’s bone marrow stem cells into the tail vasculature of the mouse. They discovered that stem cells aid in the

Psychological Approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Psychological Approaches - Essay Example Thus, controlled variables like the conditions of the testing environment and the health of the applicant should be considered before administering the exam. However, these are not commonly given much attention by the HR department or the company who’s administering the test to measure the capability of the examiner. Therefore, validity of exams may not be high. Still exams are considered to get the profile of the applicant and sometimes its result is correlated or validated with the result of the interview conducted by the selection committees. As mentioned, what is mostly considered in the profiles generated by personality assessment measures the capabilities and preferences of the individual. The cognitive aspect affects a part of the person’s profile and thus may vary with other individuals. How and why they differ can be understood by reviewing the cognitive development as well as personality development of a subject. Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language (Wikipedia 2006). It aims to understand the mental processes in problem solving and how one comes out with a decision in response to certain situations. It acknowledges the scientific method as a valid mental process compared to introspection. Jean Piagett (1896), a cognitive psychologist, explained that the Cognitive development of children involves changes in cognitive process and abilities. In Piaget’s view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses into changes in mental operations. She explained that a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the processes of obtaining knowledge. Children experiences situations and understand the situation, pleasing or not, and stores information derived from that experience. The schema changes as new experiences were

Health promotion theroy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health promotion theroy - Coursework Example This theory is normally based on the fact that the readiness of an individual to act depends on his or her own perceptions. These perceptions include severity of the consequences, the potential benefits, and cost of taking that particular action as well as the susceptibility. The main advantage of this theory is that subsequent interventions can be planned and made on the basis of the response of an individual towards these concepts. This theory was purposely developed to respond to the issue of the failure of the free TB health screening plan. This model can be used to look into a number of both short-term and long-term health behaviors which include the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexual risk behaviors (Glanz & Lewis, 2002). This theory argues that a person will normally take a health-related act such as using a condom if he feels that HIV can be avoided, expects a positive result by using protection and if he believes that he can effectively take an optional health action. This theory is very useful when planning for the community health program. You will be in a position to predict the proper plan of action to take after taking these studies in the community. However, it is worth noting that the theory does not look into other aspects of the individual such as the environment in which they live (John,

Special Forces Responses to the New Type of Warfare Essay

Special Forces Responses to the New Type of Warfare - Essay Example Despite the fact that the US is affected by the new type of warfare much like other countries, the OCONUS area also presents a challenge for the Special Force in the sense that the UCP stipulation asserts that there is need for the Force to have an effective presence in this region if the new type of warfare is to be handled properly. For many years, the Special Force has had a presence in the OCONUS area but with a focus to protect the US. This has been reflected clearly in the UCP stipulation that limits the ability of the special forces to carry out activities that are created to prevent emerging threats and form strong relationships with foreign militaries that can help combat the new type warfare. This fact clearly shows that the Special Force needs to change tactics in order to operate effectively (Dinter Jr, 2001).The 9/11 attack brought about a change in consideration of terrorism from just a criminal attack to a new type of warfare on a worldwide level. Another issue of conc ern in the 21st century as a form of new warfare is resource characterized as economic-warfare. Such issues require the Special Force to change its tactics to deal with the new type warfare, which encompasses different issues as shown in this paper. For a long time, the Special Force has used a military strategy to infiltrate into hostile land, sea and or air to conduct a variety of operations, many of them classified to them. Most of the operations carried out by the Special Force are determined to tackle terrorism.