Genetics Good? Bad?

Biology One world essay Mr. Moore

Genetic Pedigree Miguel Silva 10ND

Introduction:

There are about 100,000 genes in each of the trillion's human cell. Genes are mainly subunits of DNA. DNA is the code of every living being and has the shape of a double helix. Each person has a different gene code (DNA). Each cell in a living being's body contains a copy of the exact same DNA. The DNA is situated in a cells nucleus in 23chromosomes containing 22 autosomes and an X or Y sex chromosome. Each human girl inherits an X chromosome from each parent while a human boy would receive a X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the father. Each sex chromosomes contains 50% of the parents genes, therefore each human baby receives 50% of the mother genes and 50% of the father.

Our gene code represents, all of out characteristics, physically and physiologically. Our genes determine if you will have blond hair, brown hair, green eyes, brown eyes, dark skin, light skin etc... It all depends on the genes your parents have given you. There are two types of genes: dominant and recessive. If your father has a dominant gene: brown hair and your mom a recessive gene: blond hair than I out of 4 of your parents children will have blond hair and 3 out of 4 will have brown. Genes carry both physical characteristics as well as diseases. Diseases are more complicated than traits, if your father has diabetes for example, and your mom doesn't than you will have 50% chance of getting diabetes. Theses genetic diseases normally pass through generation to generation although there is always the case of no family members getting a genetic disease for generations.

In this essay, I will talk about and analyze all the effects of genetics in families as well as world wide. I will give in a trait of choice about my family and talk about how it might affect the families thinking. I am to search through the morals and ethics of extreme scientific knowledge with genetics. IN the conclusion I am to show my opinion in the matter of family pedigree and come to a broader moral conclusion.

Traits of interest:

* Freckles

Questions to family:

* Which close family member of yours had freckles?

* Were they male of female?

* Did any of his/her brother or sister have freckles?

* Which people do you know in our family that has freckles, gender?

Moral, ethical, societal implications:

With our continuous and glorious scientific development, we in future years will be able to do anything at all, from cloning humans, genetic physical modification, genetic engendering. We will be able to create "perfect" baby's and future perfect populations. We will be able to completely modify all our energy sources (food wise), to create non ending, none dieing, 100% resistant food and crops. We will be able to outstand any animal in performance (speed, swimming, etc...) even though it is a rather farfetched idea and rather impossible. But who says its not possible, in history it was impossible to have electric light, eye lenses, nuclear bombs, satellites, TV etc.. but now we all have TV, electric light, eye lenses, we know there exist satellites, nuclear bombs, so who says its impossible to live in Jupiter, mars, to survive a black hole, to live under water etc... Point being is that there were always dreamers to good or bad causes, dreamers who created the world of today, who advanced civilization to outstanding levels, dreamers who believed in perfect societies, dreamers who still dream of even flying, dreamers who thought impossible to navigate in space etc...

With scientific development parents can check to see if their baby is going to have any deficiency or disease. Normally when parents have the knowledge of a genetic disease in the family they tend to ask to abort, if they identify a critical deficiency or disease, the reasons to abort pass through the child never being able to have a normal life, or the parents do not wish to have to spend money on special child needs or the trouble to create a deficient baby.

Abortion however is a non-ending conflict between morals and ethics. Some people consider abortion a sin against nature; consider it morally wrong to kill the phaetus because they consider the act as bad as killing a fully grown adult/person. There are people who identify with abortion as a way to get rid of years with special treatment for the child (costing more money). Some people want abortion, so that the child does not live a special and different life from the rest of the population, so that the child does not suffer from a disease etc... Most people actually abort because the pregnancy was inconvenient (too young girls). Most people go with the legalization in Portugal for example because of the high number of really young moms although in those number of people, there are ones that do not want the legalization of abortion to be used as a back door to get free of a future complicated life, therefore there will always be conflicts about the morality of abortion.

The statistics of a woman giving birth to a perfect baby is 96%, which is a really good percentage. Now there s a problem the 4% that is not completely perfect, might only have minor deficiencies like have two different sized legs (length wise) or on eye tending to turn left all the time, or having different sized ears. To theses minor problems people who support abortion would find it quite ridiculous to abort, to kill a living being just because of those minor problems that may not affect the child life at all.

The highest number of abortion if not due to physical deficiency; most of them are about some psychological problem that the child will have to face its whole life. Normally psychological problems tend to completely dismotivate parents into bringing this child to "life". Adding it all up, most of the parents knowing that their future child is going to have a psychological problem tend to abort and consider it as the worst result that can happen.

One of the most criticized and debated question about abortion is about the abortion of gender. Most of the population find that it is completely unmoral and pure sexism to abort a child because of their gender. Many agree that those parents should be punished, put in