I really enjoyed Emily's comment in class that we should carry handkerchiefs or use our clothes to dry hands when possible. The introduction to the article didn't surprise me much, and initially I didn't think that circulating what is in the air would be such a bad thing, but that circulation seems to make a big difference when the cultures were taken. With hand dryers in use, there were sometimes as many as ten times the amount of bacteria colonies growing in washrooms. This is something to keep in mind for immunocompromised individuals. Otherwise, it's kind of an icky thought and I think I am done using hand dryers and going back to the pant leg.
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"More Americans anticipate downsides than upsides from gene editing for babies"This was a really interesting class discussion. I appreciate that wealth and class divides and well as concerns over lack of rigorous testing came up in the group. The question that comes up for me in discussions of this nature is always, who are we to decide what a "defect" is, or what normal is? Several months ago in a discussion with some fellow doulas, the idea was put forth that there is no such thing as a disabled person; it is our society that is disabled. Our society is unable to include all people and allow everyone to lead a dignified life. The idea of gene editing babies is missing the point and driving us further down a dark and dangerous path. We have already seen what has come of the case for genetic engineering and agriculture. Ultimately those who are proponents of those technologies are missing the point. We must widen our gaze and change land management and agricultural practices, there is so much to improve there to provide better nutrition for our generation and those to come. Similarly, I don't believe gene editing humans will help any more than harm our society.
I'm sorry to have missed this interesting conversation last week! The idea of making genetically designed babies is pretty horrible, for the reasons you outlined above. How would we know what is useful or not? We don't have the benefit of a long, evolutionary view. It was probably covered in class, but I recall a story of a tree moth - the healthy ones were brown, to mimic tree bark. Nevertheless, a 'sport' kept popping up regularly - a pure white moth. It didn't live very long, since it was more visible to predators than it's bark-colored sisters. There came a blight on the trees, making the bark turn white. All the brown ones were eaten, and the white ones safe! The weirdos saved the entire population. Until the bark turned brown again, I guess. Have you seen the movie GATTACA?
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, this is such a beautiful story about the moth! Such a great reminder that we need to embrace diversity because everyone and everything serves a purpose on this planet and there is no intervention that we could possibly do with gene editing for babies or plants that could be better than what mother nature has designed. I have not seen the movie GATTACA but now I am very curious! Thank you Sara, Amy and Emily for your discussions on this topic.
DeleteAmy, I appreciate your passion towards child birth and the care for the mother/family. You mentioned the minimal care that mothers receive and then they're kicked out of the hospital into their new life without much support and its those moments that can be very defining. In light of our cognitive/unconscious mind I believe its moments like that our culture should tend to for future generations so that we grow as a society to be more nurturing, supportive and open hearted. Community is a beautiful thing and when people feel supported and loved they act and feel a completely different way. I believe we might listen to our gut instincts a bit more if we weren't so conditioned by society. Thank you for your thought provoking posts!
I agree with both of you. I feel like we interfere with nature too often before we actually understand why things are the way they are. There is diversity for a reason and I feel like we as a society fail to understand that when we try to make things "factory perfect" and ideal to our standards. We act like we know what's best with little understanding of and respect for the wisdom of nature and we're wiping out things that could potentially be beneficial to us in the process.
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