Ethics and Genetics - here there is always a debate!

It is the end of week five, and I feel like I have learnt so much from this paper already! I am really enjoying working on the report with my team. It is very refreshing to be in contact with others doing the same paper and work as me.

My blog today is about something science related that is mixed up in ethics. A subject (ethics) that is very important to us as we explore our second assignment.

In Britain, new rules are being proposed that would make it the first country in the world to allow embryos to be made from the DNA of three people in order to prevent mothers from passing on fatal genetic diseases to their babies.

This has been designed for women who carry the severe mitochondrial disease the opportunity to carry children without passing on this genetic disorder. Defeats from the mitochondria's genetic code can result in diseases like muscular dystrophy, heart problems and mental retardation. 

Myself, I did not know that was even possible to do. But apparently the process involves removing the nucleus DNA from egg of the mother into a donor egg. Scientists are saying that only 1% of the DNA from the donor egg will be in the resulting embryo's genes. But that 1% change will be passed onto future generations.

But this has the Human Genetics Alert, which opposes most genetic and fertilization research jumping up and down. They think the medical field is crossing that crucial ethical line that would open up the door to designer babies.

For me, this is where it gets hard. This medical research could change the lives of some women and the children they want to have. But critics are saying this is unnecessary, as the women that have these diseases could use alternative treatment such as an egg donor. But the DNA then would mean the baby is not genetically the mother's at all.

Ethically it is alright to have an entire egg or sperm that shares no genetic history to the person needing it inserted into another person. So how is that alright, but changing 1% of the DNA of the mothers egg for medical reasons is not? I can see where they can see the future being paved for designer babies. But if the only option was for medical reasons, so that these women just like the women who can only rely on a donor egg could have their own child, then why not?

Here I stand completely torn. I know I do not know enough about this subject to make a sound judgement. I feel for medical reasons, this is an opening to prevent a disease from spreading throughout more generations as a positive. But as the same time, here we start to tinker more with genetics and the big ethical debate of interfering with what is considered biological and given. Genetically modified babies does not have a sweet ring to it.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11375956

Immunisations are important for all of us.

Week four already! The time has just flew by being so close to Christmas.

For my blog today, I have chosen to write about why my topic, being immunisations, matters to other people, and for the world in general.

Last week I mentioned how vaccinations have been one of the most successful interventions in the history of public health. Vaccinations have helped to control some of the most debilitating and deadly diseases and also managed to eradicate Smallpox.

Vaccinations matter to other people because as parents or for the safety of ourselves, being vaccinated can ensure we are protected from those diseases. I am pretty sure if a vaccination came out to prevent people from getting cancer (if such a thing could ever exist) that half the world would be lining themselves and their children up for it. Maybe something similar to the HPV vaccine for girls, but for all cancers.

Vaccinations prevent outbreaks of disease, and can keep the community at large safe. Diseases can be brought in by international travellers, and if not immunised this can be picked up quickly. Having as many people as possible vaccinated can prevent a disease from spreading. This is known as herd immunity. This is a form of immunity that can occur when a significant portion of a population provides protection for the individuals who have not developed immunity.

Because diseases pass from one person to the next, the chains of infection are likely to be disrupted when large numbers of a population are immune. And so here, people who are not immunised have less of a chance to catch an infectious disease. Also, with herd immunity, the pathogen may eventually disappear.

Immunisations are important for the whole entire world. Keeping the country you live in as immunised as possible prevents outbreaks of disease and can prevent diseases that have not been around for years such as Polio from arising again. Polio is restricted to four countries in the world now, and is the next target for eradication. But because the countries where this disease still prevails are unstable, such as Afghanistan, it has been nearly impossible to meet this target.

Vaccinations matter to every single person on the planet. Educating people about the benefits of vaccinations will help pave the future for a healthier and less diseased world.

Week five is upon us! Time to crack down on assignment two! Good luck!

The immunisation debate.

Good afternoon and I hope everyone has had a productive week so close to Christmas!

In writing my position paper, I have learnt where a lot of the hype has come from with the link to Autism and vaccinations. And that is the perfect place to start my blog today.

In 1998, The Lancet, a major medical opinion in the world published the article ‘Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children’, by Andrew Wakefield.

Right here I will stop and point out that in 2011 this article was found to be inconclusive, could not be replicated, and was found to have ethical misconduct associated with the children selected. But at the time of publishing, many parents completely stopped vaccinating their children. To this day, many parents still believe what was written long after it has been discredited.

This is because this is the article that linked the triple vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella to Autism. In this article, the researchers showed that there seemed to be a link between the Rubella virus and Autism with the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine rather than the monovalent measles vaccine. It was noted in the research that for 15-20 autistic children, the first symptoms developed within a week of vaccination. It was not proven in this research that the vaccine caused Autism, but the link was made and there was a call for more research to be done. The damage was done. Since then, research suggests “Wakefieldism” as it is called continues to cause harm throughout the globe. Andrew Wakefield still stands behind his research to this day and he has followers dedicated to his cause. Wakefield has taken this position because the children he studied showed signs of Autism, with regressive behaviour shown after the MMR immunisations, and he wanted further research to be done as a lot of children were receiving this immunisation.

However, battling for the other side, and a great place to start on researching immunisations is the article ‘Vaccination: A public health intervention that changed history & is changing with history’, by Richard Stein.

Stein’s research shows that vaccinations have been one of the most successful interventions in the history of public health. Vaccinations have helped to control some of the deadliest and most debilitating infectious diseases. Stein shows that as a result of vaccination programs, Smallpox was eradicated and Polio has emerged as the next eradication target.

When looking into the history of vaccinations, in the years between 1783 and 1800, 50% of children in Glasgow died before the age of 10, with 40% from Smallpox alone. When The World Health Organisation started a global vaccination campaign in 1967, Smallpox was causing 10 to 15 million infections annually. But by 1979 (only 12 years later), Smallpox was eradicated from the globe. Vaccinations have helped to stall and prevent further illness of infectious disease all over the world.

In Stein’s research article, communicating the benefits associated with vaccination, and ensuring the public receives accurate information is still something that needs to be addressed. Stein has taken this position as he has researched the history of vaccinations and can see the positives linked to vaccinations worldwide.

Researching the two sides of the immunisation cause has educated me in a way I would never have looked into otherwise. Knowing where the link to Autism and immunisations came from, I can now talk to others about it should the subject arise.

Our position papers are due tomorrow! Have a great day!

Stein, R.A. (2011). A Public Health Intervention that changed History & is Changing with History. The American Biology Teacher, 73(9), 513-519. doi: 10.1525/abt.2011.73.9.3.

Wakefield, A.J., Murch, S.H., Anthony, A., Linnell, J., Casson, D.M., Malik, M., Berelowitz, M., Dhillon, A.P., Thomas, M.A., Harvey, P., Valentine, A., Davies, S.A., & Walker-Smith, J.A. (1998). Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet, 351(9103), 637-641. doi: 10.1016/50140-6736(97)11096-0.

Hello all!!

Hello all!

For me, the two papers I am taking over summer school are my sixth and seventh papers for the year. So here I feel like I have learnt to adequately research for an assignment. However, I have not written a position paper before. I wish this paper for me had of been in the first semester. And so, for anyone who is a first time student over summer school, what an excellent choice!

I chose to do the immunisation topic, all the other subjects were extremely interesting as well, but I personally wanted to know more on the subject and the reasons behind why people choose not to immunise their children. For example, fears that vaccinations cause Autism (not proven). I also wanted to find out more on why we need to keep immunisations up to date, and how we differ from other countries. Like in Africa, millions of lives could be saved by simple vaccinations. But, unlike New Zealand, they don't have easy access or a timetable to go off.

What I found hard was to stay on topic as the information on immunisations is huge, with research being conducted all over the world on the pros, the cons, along with the history of a number of diseases, what has and hasn't worked, and some really scary stories from parents who had immunised or not immunised their children with extreme reactions.

What I could have done better in my research is writing down some ideas before I began. There is so much information out there I kept getting lost and compiling too many ideas instead of focusing on a set of points I could have written down first and stuck to. After reading in Week One about position papers, I used these to come up with some ideas and set these in stone. I have started my draft, and I am extremely happy with my introduction.

Good luck for Week Three!

Son's ordeal was our fault, say parents (Here is a story that broke my heart, a story on vaccinations).

Kia ora, from Katikati!!

Kia ora!

My name is Jaimi, I am 27 years old, I have two children, and I currently live in the small town of Katikati. This year I am completing the Diploma in Health Science.

Writing a blog is completely foreign to me, and something I am looking forward to completing week by week.

After watching the first lecture slides on Stream, I thought to myself, I really had no idea what this paper entailed. It was a compulsory paper and so I didn't look further into it until day one. 

But what did I think communication was? Something along the lines of a text to hubby to bring home some cheese, and when he turned up with cheese and the right kind, Voila! successful communication. But then I thought how can we communicate to others outside of our own realm of friends and family? How do doctors, scientists, journalists and so on spark the interest of their readers? So I picked up my trusty New Zealand Listener. A magazine I try to walk past every week in the supermarket, but like this week in big black bold letters it questions "Why us?". Why us? Let's look into that a wee bit. Below in smaller writing it then questions why New Zealand has such a high cancer rate. Well now I want to know why, and also how much danger I am in living in this beautiful country of ours. And so, the magazine has effectively caught my attention from two words on the front cover. The fact that inside the magazine the first sentence states how an Auckland dietitian thought developing bowel cancer was a huge slap in the face sets in stone to me that this will be a very interesting read,

Learning to write in a way that will capture an audience or readers attention like that is a skill worth learning for many reasons beyond this paper. I think this will help me next year as I move from extramural to internal and start my social work degree. I decided to complete the diploma in Health Science as I was torn between two completely different degrees. The electives, and the compulsory Health studies papers I had to take confirmed the degree and direction I wanted to go in.

Communication will be vital to me as a social worker and I find as I meet new people I can be quiet and a little shy. I am hoping that with this science communication paper I will gain some confidence in communicating with new people from the beginning. My ambitions are to help people in the long run, and to have a helping hand in society. I want to show my children that hard work, perseverance, and helping others pays off with more than a pay check at the end of the week.