Recently I read two stories that disturbed me. The first was about the FDA allowing meat and milk from cloned animals to be sold as food. The second is that a man genetically engineered a rabbit with jelly-fish genes so that it glowed in the dark.
From the AJC's article about the FDA: "Meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day," said Dr. Stephen Sundloff, FDA's food safety chief.
I say, are we sure? These things haven't been around that long, and we haven't been eating them.
As far as the ethics of creating genetically altered creatures, the Supreme Court has said it is ok for any living thing except humans.
Part of me is naturally wowed by what science can do, but another part of me is a little creeped out about the thought of a glowing bunny or eating a burger from a cloned cow.My daughter used to have a poster in her room that said, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." I sort of feel that way about these two things.
What do you think? Are these experiments pushing science forward in a good way? A bad way? Would you own a glowing pet? Would you drink milk from a cloned cow? Any other thoughts?
28 comments:
Ok, wow. I cannot believe they are feeding us milk and meat from CLONED animals. Have they tested the after effects? People have no ethics anymore! Animals have rights too. Science should draw the line here. They have no way of telling what the after effects if the cloning proccess is. What if it makes the cows and goats milk is bad, always? Like Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat from Maryland, said: "The FDA has acted recklessly," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who sponsored that legislation. "Just because something was created in a lab, doesn't mean we should have to eat it. If we discover a problem with cloned food after it is in our food supply and it's not labeled, the FDA won't be able to recall it like they did Vioxx — the food will already be tainted." The mentioned legislation is saying FDA should study the meat and milk before selling it or eating it. I support this legislation. How do not know what will happen when you eat the meat or drink the milk. For all we know, you could die.
As for the glow in the dark bunny cross-breeding, I say WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU THINKING???!!!! WHY?! The rabbit and jellyfish cross is wrong. It is unethical to FORCE an animal to be different then its species by genetically enginering it as an embryo. Sure you could say, well it isn't alive yet, but you are still trying to play God. Trying to control nature. If natural selection wanted glow in the dark bunnies, then there would be glow in the dark bunnies!
These are my opinions.
Josh
I think this is unfair to use animals in such ways. I am a vegetarian but I drink milk, so I don't want to be affected by any diseases or anything like that. This also bad for science. a glowing rabbit??? who would ever want that. I agree with Josh they are not supposed to change nature and should leave it the way it is. If nature makes rabbits glow then it is a wonder but not when people use animals in this way.
Hahahahaha a glowing bunny. Meow! Hahaha the only thing I have against that whole genetic thing is that the scientists don't ever research the long term effects of their work. Right now everythings fine, the bunny gleefully leaps around like a furry firefly, but the genetic engineers never conducted extensive tests to see if maybe by inserting the jellyfish gene into the rabbit, an imbalance of amino acids was triggered. So now all future generations might glow like the parents but might also aquire some genetic disease or cell division dissorder and die as soon as it's born or something. So they are never sure if by changing one thing in the chromosomes, a seemingly unrelated consuquence for the patient (the cute little bunny) could occur. Btw, Mrs Q's blogger profile says she's 251 years old. I just thot that was funny. Haha nice one Mrs Q!
Nathan N.
Ehem... I forgot to talk about the cloned foods and stuff in my last comment, but at least this way I'm getting two points for commenting on one subject. Undoubtedly Mrs Quenan will be cool enough to let me get the credit. Anyway, last time I mentioned the side effects of genetically altering something like a bunny could pose as a problem. But in this case, the scientist aren't changing anything about the animals we have already been eating for decades. They're just making an exact copy of them. I know the word "clone" may seem like a dirty and sinister term to some people, but that's really all it is: a genetically identical copy of an organism. So unless there was something wrong with the original animal (a cow in this case) than the clone will be fine too. Now the ethical side is another issue. Personally, I think that if the cows are going to be killed and eated anyway, I don't see how something like making cloned cow is so much different in the sense of "animal rights". But that's a whole other debate on vegetarianism (if that is a word) and stuff like that.
Nathan N.
Cloned meat? There is no way that I would eat that. I want the real stuff. I think these scientists are just trying to twist and turn the genuine facts to confuse us. A sheep that was cloned for the first time ever had died because of an uncertain genetic disorder. So, I have no way of knowing what it will do to me. We already have cloned and genetically produced veggies, but this is entirely about living things and thier food cycle.
The only fear which is biting into me is that these products can quietly enter our grocery stores and we won't even get to know about it, only for us to find out down the road that the food that we ate was all from cloned animals. And then, if there are any side effects to this, it would be too late for us to do anything about it.
Also, I think the others who have commented on this blog are right about how scientists are getting in the way of nature. These unethical people need to be taught a lesson about keeping nature how it has been since the past how many years.
Sana Yasmeen =]
3rd Period ♥
Wait, I might be eating meat and drinking milk from glowing animals who have been under tests for science?!?!? Um, Ew.
I just did a research paper on genetic engineering in Mrs. Bonstein's class, and depending on the situation, my side on the topic changes. If the genetic engineering is for like medicines and to help plants so we do not end up putting a piece of salad in our tummies that has pestisides and stuff on them; I think that's great! But, may I ask why we are now making glowing bunnies and cats?!? I mean, we have flash lights, it's not like we need our rabbits to help us when the power goes out. My brother is going camping soon, I guess I should go tell him to throw away the flash light, the new fashion is taking your glowing pet! Haha. He would b the cool kid, that's for shure.
And yeah, cloned meat for Xanna? I think not! Haha. No thanks. I'm good.
*** i still need that nick name Mrs. Quenan! =)
-xanna- 3rd period
"We already have cloned and genetically produced veggies, but this is entirely about living things and thier food cycle." Hate to break it to you but a vegetable is a bout as lively as any animal or human you know, but i still agree with you the ethics of this is completly wrong. Scientists don't have the right to expose the animals to risk of extinction. It's just all wrong. BTW XANA.
Ur not funny....................................
xD
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{0Y0} <--- lol
i just finished a research paper on this topic. wow. i chose it because i didnt have an opinion, but now i am totally against it. genetic engineering of animals is absolutely revolting. people DO try to play God but we cant really stop them... the only reason they do it is for the money and who says you have to buy a glow in the dark cat?
- platner
I think thats its really wrong to do genetic engineering! Well, most of the time. I definately think that people would NOT want to drink milk from a cloned cow! Like Aravin said, it is not fair to the animals!
Elizabeth!
Wow...I hope i have not eaten anything from a cloned animal!! I find this nasty and unappealing. I would not eat ANYTHING coming from an animal that has been cloned by scientists. I would rather eat the natural thing. I have am recently doing a report on animal rights. I think that this is unfair to animals. I also believe it is wrong to genetically engineer them. Animals were made naturally with all the effects they need. No one needs to add anything extra to that. I would not own any animal that was genetically engineered to glow in the dark. I have a dog of my own and I would rather have the animal he is rather than add some fake effect. I would rather just stick with the origional animal. Making animals glow in the dark discusts me.
~~Kelly
who <3s animals
that is freaky. i agree with you about how they should find out what happens in the long term affect to see if there are any side effects or anything that could be dangerous. people could also end up suing the companies selling them the clone animal products if anything went wrong especially if the product did not specify that it was made from a cloned animal. if they are going to sell us cloned animal products they should at least tell us on the container or label that they are.
loriii G
I thought it was really cool when they first cloned "Dolly" the sheep. However, I wouldn't want to eat meat or drink milk from a cloned animal. Although it is a genetic copy, it is still mssing something because of the way it was made.
I think of it like a xerox copy - the first one looks ok, but if yu keep making copies of copies they'll start to look pretty bad.
Two areas of reseach fuel my concerns - prions and telomeres. Prions are rogue proteins that are responsible for illnesses such as mad cow disease. Telomeres are the ends of a replicating cell, that shorten each time it's replicated. Some scientists are starting to look at that as a major cause of aging.
ok well i was trying to quote nathan about the not-writing-about-food-in-my-last-post-please-give-me-credit-for-this thing but my computer was being dumb.
ANYWAY
the thought of eating cloned meat (for all you omnivores out there) or milk seems really nasty. It sort of reminded me of the book "house of the scorpion". The main character is a clone, and everyone hated him only for that reason. It is almost like racism ("I only eat BLACK cows").
There was an article in a vegetarian magazine a couple of months ago that talked about cloning meat. Scientists cloned a single cell of muscle to create an entire "steak". I agree with everyone else, saying that eating cloned food could be unsafe and that the effects have not been studied enough.
This is really interesting that you all seem so nature-loving! haha
-platner
Ok so personally, I think this is gross. Why would you get milk and meat and stuff from cloned animals...? My sister is all vegetarien so I'm like exposed to the way animals are treated and killed...every day...but this brings the awfulness to a new level. And putting jelly-fish jeans inside of other animals? Why would ANYONE want to do that? other than the fact that it looks SOOOOO cool) what is the point of that? umm ok bye.
zoino
i think this is too weird. too headed animals freak me out, and on purpose? sick! It just disgusts me that people have the heart to do this. They take poor little animals and treat them like mr potato heads, makin em look like whatever they want. It's just wrong. Scientists have really taken it too far this time. I love meat, but this is like ugh. I don't know the words to explain it. As Simon Cowell says,"That is absolutely horrific!" whatever. I'm out
-Robert
o platner, good reference to house of the scorpion, even though i found it to be an utter waste of my time.(haha get it? utter? as in cows)
-robert
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
-Nathan N.
ok, a glow in the dark bunny? wow, thats just crazy. Poeple these days, or should i say scientist. Our world is trying new technology everyday, but i wonder if they ever think about the loong term effects that come with the new technology. Like for example, has anyone seen the movie I Am Legend. this stupid lady thoguht she was going to cure cancer(the lady trying to cure caner is refered to the scientist trying to sell glowin the dark milk haha) and she thinks she is going to be all that ant stuff. Then her product starts to get out to public, and guess what? People die!!!!!!! Yea i think that is excatly what is gonig to happen with the scientis trying to take milk and meat from glow in the dark expirements.We are all gonig to die!
and then Will Smith will come and save us! :)
courtney sutter :]
i seriously do think science can go WAY too far...but it depends how you look at it. if you look how scientists create new medicines everyday to help and cure new deseases then, no it does not go too far. but if you look at it where the scientists are just borred and want to make somehting that is, i don't know A GLOWING CAT OR BUNNY...than yes it does go too far. i mean they just want attention and they woent be famous for like ever...just a few days or sadly only a few hours...losers
=) Lindsey jordan
wwwwwwwwwoooooooooowwwwwwwwww
robert you are hilarious.....=)
Good comments everyone!
And very punny, too.
I thought that the interactive experiments were very cool. They were fun and informing at the smae time.
Torrie Wilson
the exeperiment about the light bulb was pretty cool I learned about diffrent curcuits
After doing the activities i learned about some of the circuits and how they work.i learned about different types like parallel circuits and series circuits.
~Zehna~
MI ILLAMO IS JOELLYELLELLY 2-DA-XTREME. AN NO IM NOT A
<((_CRAYOLA_))>
I learned about the different circuits and how to make electricity
hey ms q how you doing this is keithley aka JR well what i learn is that without a full circut there will be nothing to light up or do anything else
hey ms q how you doing this is keithley aka JR well what i learn is that without a full circut there will be nothing to light up or do anything else
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