When I was looking at the Life Science Communications Blog Fall 2010 a health article from the New York Times Blog caught my eye. The article is called "From Farm to Fridge to Garbage Can". The main point from the article is about how much food a typical family wastes. This really interests me due to the fact that at my dorm I am in the process of trying to start this event where the wasted food from the cafeteria that has not been touched can be brought to the local homeless shelter that same day. One day I saw the cook through out an entire pan of food that had not even been touched at all.
According to the article, "By most estimates, a quarter to half of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten — left in fields, spoiled in transport, thrown out at the grocery store, scraped into the garbage or forgotten until it spoils". This is a major problem due to the fact that world hunger is a major issue that we are dealing with right now. If half of the food in our country is being wasted then how are we letting children die every day from malnutrition.
Wasting food affects the environment, the economy, and especially a persons health. In our economy right now we are used to only eating "perfect", genetically modified foods. This is a major problem because people who think that a food is "rotten" without proper knowledge just throws the food in the garbage. The article gives the advice that if there is a small brown or mushy spot just cut it off and the food is still perfectly fine to consume. I think with more awareness of this new way of thinking about food hopefully families in the United States will start reducing their amounts of waste.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Ethics in Stem Cell Research
Due to my blog search I found out that the issue of scientific stem cell research controversy started here in Madison! In 1998 a biology researcher from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. James Thomson, first reported the isolation of human embryonic cells. This epic finding, right here at our University, started the ongoing, brutal debate of one of the largest ethical research processes in history.
Although, "The fact is, Dr. Thomson said in an interview, he had ethical concerns about embryonic research from the outset, even though he knew that such research offered insights into human development and the potential for powerful new treatments for disease". Dr. Thomson decided in the end to go ahead with the research, realizing that the work was important and that he was using embryos from fertility clinics that would have been destroyed otherwise. The couples whose sperm and eggs were used to create the embryos had said they no longer wanted them. Dr. Thomson said, announcing that he had obtained human embryonic stem cells was “scary,” adding, “It was not known how it would be received.”But he never anticipated the extent of the stem cell debate. For nearly a decade now, the issue has bitterly divided patients and politicians, religious groups and researchers.
Even though the finder of this great scientific opportunity is skeptical of this research process I still believe that it is the only way we are going to be able to advance in the medical world. I realize that there are logical reasons for thinking stem cell research is not ethical but I think that people need to look past this ethical dilemma for now and let this great research save lives. The benefits in my opinion weigh out the risks significantly. I would be very interested to know what my peers think about stem cell research starting at our University and what they think about this great scientific advancement.
Although, "The fact is, Dr. Thomson said in an interview, he had ethical concerns about embryonic research from the outset, even though he knew that such research offered insights into human development and the potential for powerful new treatments for disease". Dr. Thomson decided in the end to go ahead with the research, realizing that the work was important and that he was using embryos from fertility clinics that would have been destroyed otherwise. The couples whose sperm and eggs were used to create the embryos had said they no longer wanted them. Dr. Thomson said, announcing that he had obtained human embryonic stem cells was “scary,” adding, “It was not known how it would be received.”But he never anticipated the extent of the stem cell debate. For nearly a decade now, the issue has bitterly divided patients and politicians, religious groups and researchers.
Even though the finder of this great scientific opportunity is skeptical of this research process I still believe that it is the only way we are going to be able to advance in the medical world. I realize that there are logical reasons for thinking stem cell research is not ethical but I think that people need to look past this ethical dilemma for now and let this great research save lives. The benefits in my opinion weigh out the risks significantly. I would be very interested to know what my peers think about stem cell research starting at our University and what they think about this great scientific advancement.
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