After finally completing this amazing blog, I have realized a couple things. First, bioethics is boring, second it is the future of the world, and third it is full of controversy. Although my judgement may not be fair, it is true that I learned a lot during this project and that was the reason I chose this topic. After going through almost every possible different type of bioethics, there are some thing I would have done different. First I probably would have picked a different topics. But if I didn't have to change topics, I would have probably would have just focused on one type of bioethics instead of all of the types. Somethings I did enjoy was my interview with Carla Mooney and watching one of my multimedia sources. My final opinion on bioethics is that its pretty cool, but it can be boring.

My second multimedia source is called “Genetic Engineering”. This source is a lecture given at Yale University about genetic engineering. The professor starts off by talking about DNA. He says that “DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms.” After talking about the structure of DNA for about twenty minutes, he goes on to talk about genetic engineering. He talks about how the parts of the DNA can be changed and altered to what we want it to be. He finishes his lecture by talking about the future in genetic engineering and how the food we eat can be affected also.

I actually learned a lot from this multimedia source. Even though the whole thing was just a lecture and some parts were boring, it still was interesting to the point where I could learn from it. I would definitely recommend anyone interested in genetic engineering to watch this lecture.

genetic engineering." youtube. Web. 14 May 2010. .

Austin Self

Terrell

7th

My fifth and final source is called “Gene Therapy” by an unknown source. This source begins to talk about the basics of gene therapy and what gene therapy is. Gene therapy is “a technique for correcting defective genes responsible for disease development”. The next section talks about how gene therapy works and the viruses encrypted on DNA. Then the article talks about the current status of gene therapy and what the FDA is doing to keep gene therapy safe and to make it useful for the public. The article continues to talk about what has held gene therapy back and some recent developments in gene therapy research.

The article “Gene Therapy” is very useful in the fact that it gives a lot of details on the recent research of gene therapy and what the FDA is trying to do to make gene therapy effective for the public. Some cons on the article is that I wish that there was some sort of controversial side talked about and the potential abuse of gene therapy could be seen with the public. Overall this is a very good article and a lot of good information is given.

"Gene Therapy." Human Genome Project Information. U.S. Department of Energy, Thursday,

June 11, 2009. Web. 22 Apr 2010.


http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/medicine/genetherapy.shtml

The interview I had was with the author of the book I read called Bioethics. I started off this 20 minute long phone conversation with asking her what inspired her to write this book. She responded by saying she aimed her book at young people, wanting young adults to be aware of what the future could hold in science. I continued on by asking many questions on genetic engineering and her opinion on the matter. She said that she believed that genetic engineer could be good with finding out diseases and things like that, but genetical engineered food could be a real problem, causing some major health problem. Another question I asked her was about was euthanasia. She said that she believed that if the person has a major illness that causes a lot of pain during the death, then they be allowed to choose if they wanted to live through the pain or not. We finished up the interview by just talking about school and how she was honored to be interview and she was glad that I called her.

Things I noted with Carla Mooney: she was very easy to talk too. I really like that even i kind of asked questions that could have ended in a one word response, she expanded on the question and gave me a lot of information. Also Mrs. Mooney was very nice, because even though I called her at a late time and put her on the spot, she acted as though it didn't bother her and she just went along with it.

Carla Mooney was also very informative. After talking to her for 20 minutes, I felt as though I had become an expert on any type of form of bioethics. Her talks about the future of bioethics helped me understand what could happen in the future and I feel greatful for getting to talk to her about genetic engineering and euthanasia.

724-625-0066

The book I am doing for my book review is called Bioethics by Carla Mooney. The book starts off by talking about the birth of bioethics; mainly talking about how bioethics started and the main ideas of bioethics. This first chapter in Bioethics is called "The Beginning of Life". In this chapter the topics of artificial insemination and the acts of the government to keep it safe for woman. The next chapter is entitled "The Descision Makers". This chapter talks about vaccinations and the history of vaccinations. The third chapter of Bioethics is called "The End of Life". This chapter talks about the history of euthanasia and the medical advances in voluntary suicide. The chapter goes on to talk about the controversy of choosing to die and it gave stories of people who suffered through controversy of euthanasia. The fourth chapter is called "Research and Development". This chapter talks about the research researchers are doing and the clinical trial going on with animals and people. The fifth chapter of Bioethics is called "Genetic testing and Engineering". This chapter starts off by talking about the early research of genetic testing and then goes on to talk about the impact it can have on people's lives. Its ends by talking about how gene therapy can be used for treatment. The six and final chapter is called "Stem Cell Research and Cloning". It starts off by talking about cloning, saying clonining is " a group of cells or an organism like a plant animal, or human that forms from a single cell of another organism". The chapter then talks about the different animals that have been cloned. In closing, the chapter talks about the stem cell debate and the future of stem cell research.

The first half of this book really describes the different types of bioethics very well. Each chapter is filled with information on vaccinations, euthanasia, and artificial insemination. Although there was a lot of good information, it sometimes became very redundant. Some examples were given over and over again when you felt like you had already gotten the point. But overall, the first half of this book was very informative and gave me a deeper understanding of the world of bioethics.

The second half of Bioethics was discussed a lot of different topics than the first half. I also felt that the book began to get more interesting because it began to talk about the research and how it has effect today than rather talking about examples in the past. Still though it became a little redundant, but I was able to stay in the book and I was able to read it a lot easier.

Overall as a book, it was an ok read for the topic and I learned a lot of new information.

Mooney, Carla. Bioethics. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2009. 122. Print.

My fourth print source is called "Dulce New Mexico's Underground Base" by an unknown author. The first part of this source mainly talks about the underground base in Dulce, New Mexico. One quote from the article that is disturbing is the following; "There are experiments done on fish, seals, birds, and mice that are vastly altered from their original forms. There are multi-armed and multi-legged humans and several cages of humanoid bat-like creatures up to seven feet tall. The aliens have taught the humans a lot about genetics, things both useful and dangerous". The article goes on to talk about floor plans and the aliens that supposedly run the base.

I found this article very interesting because of what the government could be hiding from us. Many things the government could be doing there are disturbing and very weird. This source really helps with the controversial side of bioethics.

"Awesome or Off-Putting." Hecklerspray. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 April 2010

< http://www.hecklerspray.com/awesome-or-off-putting-dulce-new-mexicos-secret-underground-government-base/20079505.php >.

My multimedia source is called "Right to Die, Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia" by an unknown source. This documentary follows the story of two couples: one couple having a husband suffering from ALS and the other both wanting to die because the husband continues to suffer from heart attacks. The documentary follows there story to switzerland where euthanasia is legal and a company decides if they are candidates for assisted suicide.

This documentary gives a very good presentation of showing the controversy of euthanasia. The heartache and suffering the families go through is almost unbareable. My understanding now of euthanasia has greatly improved and my point of view on the matter has changed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxQYTFIZi8A&feature=related