The Good, the Bad & the Healthy

  Breeding has become very popular for farmers over the world, but because of this, we put the original breed into extinction. Sure, the genetic breeds are tasty and divine, but we’re losing sight of what is right and what is wrong. Throughout these past years, there has been the extinction of ninety original farm animals and even today there are fifteen hundred breeds that are endangered worldwide. Imagine, just in fifteen years, all those animals have suffered just for the sake of our taste buds. The following list includes some of the most successful breeds that have been genetically created:

                       
*60% of beef contains: Angus, Hereford or Simmental breeds
*83% of cows contain: Holsteins and Dairy breeds
*60% of contain four different breeds and 40% Suffolk-breed sheep 

Fortunately, some farmers have seen the light and have started their heritage and heirloom breeds. Heritage is mainly the reservation of breeds, while the heirloom is mainly the reservation of the plant/crop breeds. Throughout this whole mess, there are some advantages for both the heritage and heirloom breeds such as lower chance of disease, reserve traits, gain new traits and conquer harsh conditions (ex. weather).

         


   Apart from all the extinct and endangered animals and plants, there is also a health hazard towards us as well! We need to pay more attention towards sustainable and industrial agriculture. Industrial is the factories that use all those chemicals to feed and grow livestock, while sustainable agriculture does things a little more naturally. If you don’t have a sense what sustainable farming is, just think one word: organic. It’s the natural way of planting and breeding. Instead of using chemicals, they use fertilizer from the animals! Instead of using pesticides that cause cancer for us, they produce natural foods that are healthy for the animals! Instead of contaminating the waters around the area, they make sure they only use the water they need! These are the type of farmers we need to put our faith in.




   Now the question is if this new method can feed billions of hungry mouths. Well, that is really up to us to decide. We have so many factors that we have to think about, we have habits that we need to change for our earth to be healthy, so we can be able to grow and breed for generations to come. There’s also global warming that we have to think about as well. Already, we are having climate changes, and that affects a huge part of agriculture. Apart from all the problems we have to fix, it’s going to take a great push to feed every mouth. I believe one day we can feed and save the lives of the growing population is we use what we need, grow the healthiest livestock and start saving our earth.

Works Cited

Content: Feeding a World of Nine Billionhttp://www.peopleandplanet.net/?lid=26107&section=34&topic=44

Heritage, Heirloom and Traditional Breedshttp://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/heritage/

Sustainable versus Industrial:  A Comparisonhttp://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/comparison/

 
Blogs I Commented:http://adorablogs.blogspot.com/2010/12/love-organic-then-love-yourself.html#comment-form

http://sbi3u1carminachu.blogspot.com/2011/01/feeding-growing-population-vs.html#comment-form



                       Design-A-Baby

   “Designer Babies” used to be some terms you would hear in futuristic movies, book or comic books, but know its becoming reality. The new technology that these scientists are providing us has both positive and negative effects. However, for future parents who have heredity diseases, preimplantation genetic diagnoses (PGD), is one technology they can use to prevent their child from these diseases.

   

   The positive effect from PGD, one form of genetic technology, is that they use their expensive procedure for parents who want to prevent any passing of heredity diseases such as Huntington’s chorea, Cystic Fibrosis, Dwarfism, Autism and Muscular Dystrophy. This good use of technology can end all suffering and early casualties. Genetic technology can also give infertile couples a change to become parents, while some parents abuse this technology to make their child more attractive, smarter or more physical. Abusing this kind of technology and trying to play God can cause some problems to arise. First, this technology is not 100% accurate. It can cause problems or danger to the child.


                                     


   Using InVitro Fertilization, scientists take the mother’s eggs and the father’s sperm and put them into test tubes, by doing this, the scientist are able to remove any diseases or disability on the request of the parents. There, the parents are informed the sex and the genes of their child. When everything is ready to go, the embryo goes into the mother’s womb by the scientists, until nine months later, when the baby is born.



                                       
              

                                                       

   It is unnecessary that some parents are wasting away their money just to ‘design’ their child. It would feel as if they were buying a car, taking time thinking of the price, the color, the rims, the outcome, insurance and more. By going to these science engineers and specifically changing their child to the way their parents want them to be is generally wrong. Imagine how the child will feel, most would probably think that they were never good enough. It is a horrible thing to do to your child if you abuse the technology and money, trying to play God. Using this kind of technology can be dangerous for both the children and the community. Doing experiments on animals is bad enough, but doing it on unborn children is even worse.
   PGD should be used for the right reasons, which is preventing early deaths to children with incurable or life threatening diseases. There are some parents who would pay anything prevent their child from suffering. Then, there happens to be some couples who are infertile, which means they cannot conceive on their own. If they use this science, they can have the pleasure of being parents. Designer Babies have positive effects, it brings happiness to those who have suffered both physically and mentally, but if you abuse this power, the result will dangerous.

Works Cited
Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
Ethics of Designer Babies
http://australianforterri.blogspot.com/2007/01/ethics-of-designer-babies.html
What is a Designer Baby?
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
Rights and Wrongs
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_eth.htm

Blogs Commented
http://sbi3u1carminachu.blogspot.com/
http://maeisdabomb.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-build-stuff-toy-when-you-can-build.html#comments

Endangered African Rhinoceros

A white rhino, hunted and left for dead for it's horn

    We have been aware of Rhinoceros by their large bodies, stubby legs, but mostly because of their beautiful and fearful horns. They are one of the main tourist attractions of Africa and Asia, but lately if you come to see this magnificent creature, you see rhinoceros without their horns, defenseless against their predators. Why is that?

A poor innocent rhino, killed for the horn

    It is the cause of illegal rhino horn poaching. Ever since 2006 to 2009, the population of rhinoceros has decreased by four hundred and seventy rhinos, which means that twenty or so rhinoceros per month has been murdered. This massacre was the cause of the great demand from the Asian market, the destruction of their natural habitat and the beginning of the human settlement. The number one cause of the decrease of the rhinoceros population is the high demand by the Asian Market for rhino horns. These horns contained traditional Chinese medicine, but although there are many substitutions for rhino horns in these medical practices, there is still stress towards the people trying to help save these animals.

  
   It has been a struggle, but the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been doing their best to create a better living habitat, reducing the illegal timber trade as well as the trade for rhino horns. Their mission is to help earth’s natural environment, to help nature and humanity live in harmony. WFF has over five million supporters that help run around 1,300 projects one at a time. The crew of the WWF has been monitoring the habitat of the white and black rhinoceros and enforcing the law to fully ban the slaughtering of rhinos, but also giving the tourists space to experience the sights of Africa as well.WWF has been helping the African rhinoceros for years and finally, there is some hope that there will be restoration to their population.

A man admiring his kill for the rhino horn.

     International Union of Conservative for Nature (ICUN) has calculated before that the population of African Rhinoceros was less than three thousand, now with all the work WFF, other organizations and generous people have done, there has been a great increase in the almost extinct species. With all the hard work there has been contributed, the growth rate for the white rhino is 6.8% and the black rhino has grown 4.5% since 1995. There are many things you can do to help these defenseless creatures, without your help and their horns, the population can reduce all over again and leave this species extinct.

 

Resources and Pictures
African Rhino Poaching Crises
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/african_rhinos/poaching_crisis_african_rhinos/Google
http://www.Google.ca/images
Rhinoceros
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/
Success in African Rhino Conservation
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/african_rhinos/rhino_conservation/
WWF in Brief
http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_quick_facts.cfm

Blogs Commented
http://vanezzabioblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.yay4bio.blogspot.com/