Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Reclaiming My Topic

Step 3:
In the beginning of the semester I chose a topic about free-treatment in hospitals and how poor people are often cut off from these programs due to their diseases not being accepted. However, I could not find much information on my topic so I decided to change it. The topic I changed it to was human-animal hybridization. I had not heard of such a thing until I research topics on Animal Rights. After looking through a couple of sources, I was hooked on the idea of creating chimeras and I wanted to learn more. It was hard at first for me to find articles on my exact topic, but after getting the wording right in the search bars, I finally was able to find a lot of good sources. I found articles that were both for and against human-animal hybridization. In many of the articles, I found that certain experiments have already been done in the hopes of finding a cure for certain diseases in the future. The concept of a chimera isn't new either like I thought. From my research, I found that chimeras have been around for a long time, but until now it wasn't a major concern. I also found that some religious figures are for human-animal hybridization. I find this research on chimeras to be interesting. Being able to put human cells into animals and visa versa never occurred to me as being possible. After doing all of my research, i found that i am for human-animal hybridization. Though it may seem unmoral to change an animals genetics, we can learn a lot from these experiments and hopefully one day find curses to certain diseases like AIDS and mental disorders. The creating of chimeras can also allow humans to be able to accept transplanted organs from pigs. Though I am a little stressed about my paper and how to put all of my ideas together so that it flows well, i am looking forward to begin writing it. I may have to look up a few more sources though.


Step 4
Moments, Stories, People, and Scenes:
From my research, I found that not all scientists agree that human-animal hybridization should be legalized. In fact, many scientists disprove of it because they fear it will enable diseases from one species to cross into another. For example, one scientist believes that bacteria in pigs could develop in humans and therefore cause a new disease similar to AIDS. Other scientists are concerned that making chimeras of humans and gorillas or other species of monkeys may overstep the boundaries of the specie's line. They feel that since humans are so genetically related to gorillas, that implanting human cells into them would cause them to gain human characteristics and therefore they would have to be given human rights and status. However, the scientists who are for human-animal hybridization disagree, saying that it is VERY unlikely that a situation like that would ever occur. They also state that there is not really a CLEAR line between certain species. Most scientists that conduct chimera experiments do not use primates anyways. Instead, they use animals such as sheep, pigs, and mice. In one article, I found that a study was conducted where a scientist implanted human brain cells into a mouse. The mouse developed a brain with almost all human cells. However, the mouse did not act like a human b/c the brain capacity for a mouse is very small compared to ours. One of the major studies being done, however, are implanting human cells into pigs, so they create organs that can be used as humans. This experimentation could possibly save countless lives in the near future. Patients are always waiting for transplants, and many die even before they come close to being able to receive an organ.


Step 5:
Jason: What is human-animal hybridization?
Me: human-animal hybridization is a growing field in science that consists of implanting human cells into animals and animal organs into humans.
Jason: What is a chimera?
Me: A chimera is something or someone that consists of two different tissues from two different species. For example, A human that gets a transplant and now has a pig's heart is a chimera.
Jason: Why is human-animal hybridization important to advances in science?
Me: The creation of chimeras is very important to future advances in science because it could allow us to find curses for certain diseases like AIDS. It could also allow us to start implanting animal organs into humans in order to save more lives.
Jason: Why are many people opposed to the idea of making a chimera?
Me: Though some people just find it immoral due to religious beliefs, most people are just scared that the research will go to far and sooner or later scientists will cross species boundaries. For example, they are scared that an animal might develop human characteristics that might classify them as "human" and therefore we would have to grant them human status.
Jason: Should they fear the idea of animals developing into humans?
Me: No, they shouldn't. The research I've gathered explains that the probability of an animal developing human characteristics just because of implanting human cells or genes into them is very unlikely. For example, implanting brain cells into a mouse will not cause it to develop into a human because a mouse's brain capacity is very small. Therefore, though he may have human cells, that does not been he is human and behaves like a human.
Jason: Do all religious beliefs like christian and catholic disprove of chimeras?
Me: Actually, some religious icons have stated that they are actually for the creation of chimeras.


Step 6
"So What?":
Human-animal hybridization is a growing field in science that could enable scientists to find cures for certain diseases; thereby saving countless lives in the future.

1 comment:

English 2110 said...

You have really condensed your argument down nicely, Kaylan. Great work.

JS