Designer Babies (genetics assessment.)

In class, we are taking a genetic assessment. My topic is on Designer Babies. Designer babies, also known as test tube babies, are babies that are born artificially. Did you know that even though people call them test tube babies even though they really aren’t born in test tubes. They are born through IVF (in-vitro fertilization) where the egg is taken out of the woman by a needle attached to an ultrasound and the sperm is taken out of the man. Then the egg and the sperm are put into a petri dish with warm water and nutrients until the egg gets fertilized. Then they inject the egg into the mother’s womb. After that the woman gets pregnant and gives birth to a child. Designer babies can benefit in many ways. First, it helps couples with infertility problems to conceive a child. (Infertility is when the woman can’t give birth through sexual intercourse.) So this helps couples not to be depressed and actually have a child. Secondly, it helps couples that don’t want to go through the process of getting a child. Thirdly, it could help the baby itself by fixing disorders before injected into womb. These healthy babies could also be used to help older siblings with harsh disease by giving the designer baby’s tissue to the sibling with disease. Fourthly, health care for designer babies cost less. Fifthly, it gives couples another choice instead of adoption. So I found designer babies very beneficial. So I am happy that they are out there. Designer baby opportunity can also be negative in a way because people started requesting they want their baby too have blue eyes, blond hair, big ears, etc. I think that using designer babies in the negative way is very wrong because God created the baby to be that way and it shouldn’t change. Also it sounds like you are ordering a “thing,” not a baby. Some informational websites where I got my information are:

http://www.bionetonline.org/English/Content/db_cont1.htm
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/crossrds_ca on this website you can type in designer baby and a lot of informational articles will come up

Ice cream as fertility aid? Experts skeptical

Women usually try to limit ice cream to their diet. But not any more. When doctors discovered that ice cream could aid fertility, many women have added it to their diet. A diet rich in ice cream and other high fat dairy foods may lower a risk of one type of infertility. It sounds too good to be true and probably is, some doctors say. Researchers found that women who ate two or more low fat dairy products a day were nearly as twice as likely to have trouble conceiving because of lack of ovulation than women who ate less than one serving of such foods a week. "The idea is not to go crazy and start to have ice cream three times a day," said the lead author, Dr. Jorge Chavarro, a research fellow at Harvard. "But it is certainly possible to have a healthy diet with low saturated fat intake by having one serving of high-fat dairy a day." The new research doesn't even apply to most cases of female infertility. Not ovulating is to blame only one-third of the time. I thought that this article was very interesting. I also found it hard to believe that ice cream could aid fertility. I wondered how they found that out. This article had to do with science because of the scientific research and the health part of this article.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/27/ice.cream.fertility.ap/index.html

Obese child can stay with mother

In London, England, 8-year-old Conner McCreaddie weighs an overwhelming amount of 200 pounds. Which is four times the amount of the healthy weight for his age. Ever since he was a little kid, his mother let him eat freely in food choice and food quantity. Now, everyday he is dieing more and more. (Diseases.) So social workers met with him and his mom to discuss his eating habits. After the meeting, his mom still refused to feed him healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables. His eating habits soon got so out of control that social workers and doctors started recommending putting a lock on the refrigerator. This attempt to help Conner failed, when his mom refused to put the lock. She also refused to let him go to a foster home till he loses weight. This made them go to meet again with the British social services and have a hearing. Conner was able to stay with his mom, only if he followed some rules on his eating. That first year, Conner lost 21 pounds from following the rules and he is willing to change. I thought that Conners mom didn’t care too much about him at first, but now that she realizes the consequences, she listens to the social workers. I am very happy for Conner that he is trying to change. The whole thing of Conner being 200 pounds grossed me out. This article used science to get Conner a better diet and the research they did for cures for him. This article also had to do with health.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/27/obese.child.reut/index.html

Kidnapped boy safe after 'extremely traumatic day'

A 13-year-old named Clay Moore was kidnapped on the Friday of February 23, 2007, in Parrish, Florida. The day he got kidnapped started as an ordinary school day. Clay went out to the bus stop and waited with the other kids, then all of the sudden this man pulls up in a red truck, gets out and tells clay to get into the car. Clay’s reply was “Sir, I don’t know you.” Then the guy pulled out a gun and said he will shoot if he doesn’t cooperate. So Clay gets into the car and all the kids runaway in fear of getting shot. The kidnapper drove Clay about 20-30 miles from where he was last seen, into the remote part of Manatee County. There, Clay was tied up to a tree by his feet and hands by duct tape and his own clothes. Then he was left in the massive farming land/woods. After a couple hours, Clay thought about escaping. But he was fearful of the return of the kidnapper. Finally, he escaped by kicking out and using a safety pin. After that, ClayStarted walking then running until he approached the road. Then he saw a farmer and asked him to borrow his cell phone so he could call his mom. When she asked him where he was, he replied saying he didn’t know. A couple moments later, the police got to him by tracing the call to his mom that was at 1:30 pm. Every one was happy for him that except a couple scratches, he was unharmed. After he was screened for injuries, he described the kidnapper as a 5 “8” Hispanic looking guy. But after the interviews with the kids at his bus stop, the officers were convinced that he could have also been a White guy with a tan because kids said he didn’t have a Hispanic accent. Then when officers and investigators viewed the land he was brought to, they noticed that the kidnapper knew what he was doing exactly and he had already had it planned. Now the kidnapper is still at large and the town is having a lot of precautions so it doesn’t happen again. So what basically happened was that Clay was kidnapped because he was the closest to the kidnapper and he was the first one in his sight. And then he was tied up while the kidnapper was getting ready to do his next step. But he was too late to do it when Clay ran away. I thought what the kidnapper did was just really sick. And I am happy for Clay because he escaped before any more evil could have been done. And I hope that the kidnapper gets what he deserves and something dreadful like this doesn’t happen again. In this situation, they used science to investigate and to find the suspect.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/23/amber.alert/index.html