Stem-cell research products

For my research on stem-cells, I made a petition and wrote an opinion article to submit to newspapers. If you believe in making more leniant laws for stem-cell research, please sign my petition by clicking on the link below. Below the link is my opinion article.

www.petitiononline.com/stemlife

Op-Ed:

Stem Cell Research Op Ed

Ever since people have walked this planet, we have been exploring and discovering new thoughts and concepts. It’s not a surprise that these human qualities have carried over to the present. We make these discoveries for self-improvement and to better the human race as a whole. So why stop now with stem-cell research? Stem-cell research in a nutshell is the ability to use embryonic cells to find cures/drugs for previously-thought incurable diseases and viruses. Basically there is a lot of potential in this field, but a lot of people don’t seem to realize this. A lot of people believe this is immoral and a waste of time.
First off though, why should you care about this issue? Stem cells when used correctly have the ability to do amazing things. These blank cells have the capability of morphing into any cell you desire. Any cell in the human body can be made from these “master cells,” and used to improve current drugs or make new ones. They can cure your neighbor Jimmy’s paralysis, your Aunt Martha’s brain cancer, and maybe even one day a close friend’s HIV. Now, you and I may not be scientists, but having the ability to cure people of “incurable diseases” sounds like a pretty fair deal for the price of a couple embryonic stem cells. Not only will stem-cell research improve the health of you and I, but it will boost the American economy. America doesn’t export many goods. We don’t mass produce clothes, or make millions of toys. However, what we do is a lot of research and break barriers in terms of discoveries. We export this knowledge/the new treatment to other countries. In turn, we get a large following of other scientists, a good reputation, and a large profit for selling our medication and treatments. Because of the state the economy is in now, we need all the help we can get. By banning this research, many scientists are choosing to go into other fields of science, or even worse, they are leaving the country all together to go to other countries that do allow stem-cell research. The countries that do allow stem-cell research, such as China, England and Australia, are even trying to recruit these American scientists. We are giving our jobs to people in other countries and only helping our economy go into more of a slump.
When President Bush came into office in 2000, scientists were immediately disheartened, they knew he was going to carry out his father’s wishes and ban stem-cell research for good. He did just this, and kept it that way until his term in 2008 ended. Fortunately Obama has come into office and has lifted some of the strict bans on stem-cell research. However, scientists still cannot do whatever they please in order to carry out successful research. George Bush’s stem cell policy stated that only existing stem-cell lines were to be used. There was a limited amount, 60 to be exact. Just like with any other product, a limited supply means a limited amount of people can access them. Therefore work was slow, and we weren’t producing our finest work when every scientist had to wait their turn in line for the stem-cells. Obama has now lifted these strict restrictions, and stated that scientists can now use the “throw-away” embryo’s from fertility clinics. This policy is a large improvement from the previous president’s, but still, does not give quite the freedom that scientists need to work to their full potential. Now this is the new problem at hand. How do we have less strict stem-cell research laws while not letting scientists go to crazy? We want there to be unlimited stem-cells for research but we don’t want to have people being cloned left and right. The solution to this is simple. Ban any kind of human cloning and just let there be free research using stem cells. Once this goes into action so many new discoveries will be made. New cures for different diseases/viruses will be produced left and right. Humans in general, will just have so much more knowledge, and in the end knowledge is power. And, finally scientists can return back to the lab where they belong.

Stem-cell ResearchSummary

Stem-cell research

Stem- cells are cells that have yet to be given a title. By having a “title” I mean that these cells can be transformed into any type of cell desired and are not predestined to be anything specific. Not only can they be changed into any cell that is wanted, but they also can multiply and renew themselves through cell division. This is an amazing concept because in paralyzed victims, cells that have died can be rejuvenated/replaced by these stem cells, making the possibility of nonparalysis againIt seems that at this point in time, we are at a cross roads in where we stand in the stem-cell research debate. America is very split between whether this is something we should invest our money in, or if it’s not only a waste of our time but an infringement on our morals. Using an embryo for the purpose of science is seen as wasting a life, and in many religions ending the life of one person is not worth saving the life of another. There are alternatives such as using adult-stem cells instead of embryonic-stem cells. The difference between adult stem-cells and embryonic stem-cells is that adult cells are more mature of course, and embryonic cells are so young, that they have yet to be predestined to become a certain type of cell. Adult stem-cells are hard to extract from “adult tissues” as well. Scientists are still trying to figure out how to grow these adult stem-cells in large quantities. With all these road blocks in the way, scientists have looked to other sources to use in research and that is why they have chosen embryonic stem-cells. Not only are they easy to make, but they can be transformed into any type of cell in the human body that you can imagine. While an adult stem-cell only has a few options in terms of the type of cell it can turn into.
Stem-cell research has not been around for very long. People have known the whereabouts of stem-cells from the start of the 20th century but were not implemented for the first time until about the mid 1970’s. Obama recently signed a bill in March of 2009, stating that the use of stem cell lines was allowed, but the government would not be funding any scientists to make/attain new ones. Although allowing stem cells in the first place is a large step in the right direction, the fact that no new stem cell lines can be created is still holding the science realm back. As our competitors, China, Australia and England pull ahead in terms of scientific findings; we are beginning to lag and are losing one of our greatest exports, knowledge, to other countries. many Americans believe that we are devaluing the human life to a sick extent. However, what the other half of America believes is that not only do the benefits outweigh the negative on this type of research, but these embryos have no organs, nerves, any visible shape. This form of research can also be seen as a form of abortion; although the embryo is not from the womb, scientists are choosing to “abort the embryo”. People are also afraid that by allowing this type of research, scientist will take advantage of it and begin cloning humans left and right. As long as there is government supervision and control over what is happening to these embryos, nothing like this should ever take place. At the end of the day, the real question is, would you rather save the life of one embryo or would you rather save the millions of lives of people with terminal illnesses. What is unethical to 51% of America, is ignoring this vital resource we have and letting thousands of people die because the other 49% of America wishes to save the embryo’s lives instead (Gilgoff).
This untapped resource is inevitably the future for not only the medical field but for everybody. It is untapped in the sense that renewable energy is untapped. There is so much potential in this field just, and should be just as much of a priority as reducing our Carbon Dioxide emissions. If Americans chose to leave this resource behind, it will only become our loss as other countries pull ahead of us economically, as more people die, and most importantly as we chose to become an idle and naïve country. If we want the government to act further on this sensitive topic, the voices of America need to be made. Our representatives are supposed to be the voice of the people, if enough people are concerned with this topic it will be debated in congress and hopefully progress will be made. That will only happen though if enough people make this top priority in their minds and show it through their actions. Nancy Reagan, former first wife, couldn’t have said it any better. “Science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with answers that have so long been beyond our grasp. I just don’t see how we can turn our backs on this- there are just so many diseases that can be cured, or at least helped. We have lost so much time already, and I just really can’t bear to lose any more”. (Lander) Hopefully citizens of not only America, but citizens of the world will realize how important this is to our humanity and promote this topic within their country to lead an example.

In Defense of Food

I believe that people chose to eat products that are unhealthy for them because there is this idea that healthy foods are not good tasting. I believe people would rather have something taste good than be health conscienscious. I also believe that people are misinformed about what they are eating, whether it is really organic, or if 0 grams of trans fats really means much . Also if they do believe that they are eating something, they really don't know what is going on "behind the scenes," in terms of packaging and hormones being injected, and the food becomes unhealthy unknowingly as a result.

I definately think that the government has a role to fulfill in terms of educating the American population on food. At the moment, it seems so shady, all these companies are trying to hide the real nutrition facts, and hidden chemicals of their food. It would be refreshing and nice if the U.S. told us what are lies and which foods we should be eating. Although I believe that America will never be fully responsible for managing all products, there could definately be some pros and cons to the government taking over this industry. Although right now it seems that the cons outweigh the pros, and that the solution to this food problem is for companies to educate the public and be honest and be honest about their product.

Sociology Expirament

For our sociology project, we had to do something that was "deviant". In other words outside of the norm. An example of this would be an 11 year old being pregnant. My group, which had Sydney and Eli Reed decided to test whether girls that dress more "sexy" get what they want more often then more modest girls. So for thirty minutes Sydney and I walked around SDSU asking only guys for quarters to get on the trolley. We did this 2 different times. The first time we were dressed in heels and dresses. The second time we were wearing baggy pants and baggy shirts, no makeup and hair up. Below are pictures of us dressed "sexy" and "conservatively".

Novalina's Biography

Novalina literally means “shooting star”, and that is just what Novalina Betoncourt is. At the age of 30, Novalina has already accomplished so much with her life, but let’s start at the beginning of Ms. Betoncourt’s life and see how she has become such a shooting star. Novalina was born in San Francisco in 1979, but soon moved to San Mateo, just east of San Francisco, where she grew up for the rest of her un adult life until college.

Novalina was a girl that took all AP’s and Honors during high school, but at the same time had a social life and was friends with the “popular” girls at school. Within her family, she became very close to both her mom and dad, claiming that together, they were her “best friends”. Novalina says, “[my dad] taught me to be my authentic self,” which is a piece of advice that she still believes to this day and is even writing about in books. A self proclaimed author, Novalina has written segments within other books and is now beginning the process of having her own book, “The Total Female Package”, published. Although she is writing books at the moment, she doesn’t want to be called an author. “I guess, I’m more of an entrepreneur you could say”, says Novalina about her job. Outside of the work world though, Novalina likes to go dancing, especially since she can relate as a former radio DJ, Novalina claims that dancing is a way of celebrating friendship. At first encounter, one can tell that Ms. Betoncourt is a fun free spirited person. You can especially appreciate her fun spirit when she traveled down to Mexico a couple of years back while in college and ended up getting handcuffed and arrested. When asked 3 words to describe herself, Novalina says “3 words would have to be love, connection and growth.” When asked why, she states that she has 5 values that she lives by that are very similar to the words that describe her, and those words are authenticity, love, growth, connections and relationship.

In the future Novalina hopes to see her book, “The Total Female Package”, become a success and then move on from there to make other “Total Package” books. Aside from her job though, she does want to get married and have children. She even wants to adopt many children. “I would love to have a Brady bunch style family actually.” States Novalina about having kids. Overall, it seems like Novalina Betoncourt is a hard working young woman with her head screwed on straight and is excited to see what the future holds in store for her.

America's foreign policy

For government, we were assigned to write on our opinions regarding America's foreign policy. Below is mine :).

Since about World War 1, America has "helped" out in major wars, such as the world wars, or just trying to "protect" other countries like during the "red scare". I think America feels like its part of the job description of the U.S. to interfere with other countries affairs, whether they want it or not. Overall I believe by medling in other countries business we are doing more wrong then good. It seems within recent years, especially during the Bush administration, that the U.S. has come off as ignorant, arrogant, and annoying really. I think Iraq/Afghanistan was a complete mistake, we made up a reason to go in there basically and kept finding new reasons to stay in there. Besides the fact that alot of people within those countries didnt even want us there, I think we totally disregarded the culture, their religion and beliefs and stomped all over them. There was a definately a much better way of going about this, but the Bush administration seemed to think otherwise, and now we are practically stuck there because we have to finish what we started. We have been in this war longer than any of the world wars, and for non justified reasons I believe. Before you can help anybody else you have to help yourself first, especially during these hard economic times. America should be focusing on dropping our unemployment rate, getting ourselves out of this enormous deficit, things at home. But instead we keeps spreading ourselves thin across the world. Even though we are at war with Iraq, we have many random troops across the world that are pretty unnecessary in my opinion. We are trying to help to many people at one time, but because America has lost very few wars/battles they think its possible to do everything. Don't get me wrong I think its great to go into countries and give aid/help for things such as building schools, stopping genocide,giving out vaccinations those sorts of things. Right now though we have to take care of ourselves, and ensure we are doing well so that we can help others more in the future.

Barmed and the strange Basil

Basil was always a strange little boy. He enjoyed doing strange things like seeing how many rocks he could fit in his mouth or shaving off all the hair on his head except for the one inch above his hairline. What most people didn't understand about Basil, was his obsessive desire to lie about everything. So when Basil one day, ran into his classroom and began yelling "I can fly! I can fly!" Nobody took him seriously or even took the time to glance at him for a second. The class had learned by this point, to never take this boy seriously. For Basil this story was different, this story wasnt a lie. Basil really could fly, all he had to do was place an orange magic turban on the top of his head, position his dog, Barmed, correctly and he was off. What Basil didn't know was that his body and the dog would stay in position, lying on the ground as if they never took off for flight. But in their minds and souls they were up high in the sky and that was real for Basil. So one day when Basil attempted to show what little friends he had his ability to fly, all they saw was a dog and a boy with an orange sheet rapped around his head lying on the ground, almost as if they were asleep. His friends laughed and teased him for lying, but soon meandered away leaving Basil alone with Barmed the dog on the floor. In his sorrow, Basil realized nobody would ever learn, have, or share the experience of flying with anybody else then himself.