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Some ethical issues facing modern science

Office Cartoon by Andertoons

Right then. I apologise for not writing an entry for so long but I have been unbelievably busy recently. Anyway. I have entered the Royal College of Science Union's Science Challenge 2012 (see here: http://rcsu.org.uk/sciencechallenge/). It is an essay competition open to either Imperial students or school students across the UK with a choice of four questions. I only had time to answer one of them, which was: 'What are the five main ethical issues that face modern science and how do we tackle them?'

Below is the 800 word essay I wrote today in about two hours! I didn't have much time to do it in and received no prior feedback so please bear that in mind if you decide to read through it.

Science is a dynamic and constantly developing field which gives us the key to our understanding of the universe. Ethics is a system of moral principles that have defined who each and every one of us is by our choices. Today, when we are on the brink of unlocking the secrets of our existence, the main thing stopping limitless advancement are ethical issues involved. Now, more than ever, evolving empiricism is head-on against the moral subjectivity which faces humanity.

The first issue that I would like to examine is the question: when does life begin? There is of course no biologically correct answer but merely a multitude of ethical opinions. Is it at conception when we are now a unique entity? Or when the spinal cord develops so we can feel and comprehend? Or is it when an embryo has reached the stage of viability where it is able to survive independently, or even at birth itself? This is an imperative question to modern science because it determines when abortion or the discard of an embryo in IVF, embryology and stem-cell research, among other forms of treatment and research, is considered as murder of a living being. The British government currently has very strict guidelines on the age of the embryo, at which the above matters can be practised, for example the 24 week abortion limit. We have to agree a consistent limit across scientific endeavours and listen to the views of religious groups. For instance, we could conduct embryonic research on an embryo which would have been discarded anyway from IVF.

Furthermore, genetic engineering is a pressing issue. Altering the genes of an organism can be seen as ‘playing God’ and altering the natural order of the universe with unknown consequences. Genetic modification in humans is strongly opposed as it could lead to a dystopian society rife with ‘designer babies’ and discrimination against the ‘inferior’ and ‘disabled’. Genetic engineering in plants and animals is less contested as humans are generally seen as more important, but contested nonetheless.  In response to these suspicions, we must first perfect our scientific technique for genetic engineering and ensure there are no harmful side-effects. We must lay down limits now for the future about what genetic engineering can be used to do to ensure there are no reservations about this technology based on the uncertainties of the future. Reducing the causes of many of the ethical dilemmas will hopefully combat the opposition towards genetic engineering.

Thirdly, the argument between ‘sanctity of life’ and quality of life’ is vital to modern science.  Is life sacred and important in itself, or does the value of life depend on its quality? This question is linked to euthanasia and the abortion of an embryo with a genetic disorder because we face a dilemma when considering whether some life, albeit filled with suffering, is better than no life at all. Do we legalise euthanasia to stop suffering? Do we keep somebody in a vegetative state with little chance of recovery on a life-support machine when resources could be used elsewhere? It is hard to judge the quality of someone else’s life and our current emphasis on inalienable human rights highlight how we see life as the most important thing we have, regardless of its quality.

Testing pharmaceutical drugs and chemicals on animals is possibly the biggest issue facing scientific research today. To save the lives of humans we put sentient animals under extreme stress and pain to ensure that drugs are safe to use. The main problems people have with animal testing are that the animals are especially bred for their life-purpose of being tested on and that this cruel treatment is often unjustified. It seems unnecessarily harsh to test cosmetics on animals, but the important issue is medical research. There should be more testing done without the use of sentient organisms (for example on tissue samples) and conditions and tests should be altered to minimise suffering.

Finally, the development of nuclear power to resolve the need for a renewable form of energy in a world running out of the finite fossil fuels we currently depend on, as well as to proliferate our nuclear weapons as a form of protection from invasion. The issue of nuclear waste, cost and the danger involved if something goes wrong at a reactor, as seen at Chernobyl and, more recently, Fukushima, has meant the idea of nuclear energy has not been fully exploited. Also, nuclear weapons cause mass obliteration to everything in nearby vicinity of the target as well as long-term nuclear fallout.  We must find a solution to the radioactive waste problem and ensure that all reactors are completely safe from any failure as well as to disarm nuclear weapons or at least ensure they are never again used as they were in 1945.

Overall, I feel these five issues are the most important that face modern science and that science and ethics must go hand-in-hand because ethics do not hold back science, but rather just stop science crossing a line beyond which there is no return.

I will hopefully get back into this blogging and upload some more entries soon.

Suhayl.

Spider Silk

Psychiatry Cartoon by Andertoons

As kids, we've all dreamed of having superpowers (actually, I think we still do). And one of the most popular superheroes, with over 200 million hits on Google, countless merchandise, a plethora of 8-year-old impersonators and a new film to be released about him this year is the one and only Spider-Man. Picture him in your head it's pretty likely you imagine him swinging across the New York rooftops fighting the bad guys. Something like this:

His weapon of choice: the web. Not the world-wide-web, which now dominates a Google search of 'web' (http://bit.ly/uC48UQ), but a good ol'-fashioned spider's web. And what makes up a web? Spider silk. And scientist are one step closer to making Spidey's web-slinging a reality.

We harvest silk from silkworms (obviously) but its main use is in creating comfortable clothes. Spider silk, on the other hand, is (weight-for-weight) five-times stronger than steel. It's true. After all, stands of spider silk a tenth of the thickness of a human hair can trap an insect travelling at 20mph without breaking.

Trapped

However, it is currently impossible to 'farm' spider silk in large quantities because spiders are very territorial, don't produce very much of it, and many spiders are quite happy to practise cannibalism. The most famous to do so I believe is the black widow (who is, coincidentally, another a Marvel character). Silkworms, conversely, produce lots of silk and are easy to farm. So how to get the best of both?

The answer is not 'pop down to Tesco and look in the bread aisle' nor is it anything to do with 'Hannah Montana', but rather, it is GM (Genetic Modification). Scientists have found the gene responsible in spider's for making spider silk and have transplanted it into other animals for years but attempts have been futile. Scientist even managed to transplant the gene into goats (of all animals) so their milk produced the protein that makes up the silk. I've heard of milking a goat...but 'silking' one? It wasn't completely successful. Maybe a Spider-Pig next time?

New work led by Professor Don Jarvis of the University of Wyoming involves inserting the spider silk gene into silkworms and has managed to result in a composite of silk from both (2 to 5% spider silk) being produced in large quantities. It is four times stronger than normal silk and nearly as tough as spider silk. The next step is to get the silkworms to produce pure spider silk.

The silkworms are spinning spider silk alongside their own and the properties of the silk have been greatly enhanced. This spider silk will be invaluable. It will be used mainly in the medical sector where it'll create stronger ligaments, implants, artificial limbs and sutures (stitches). Further uses could include composing greener substitutes for toughened plastics (which require a lot of energy in production and use up finite resources) out of the silk as well as in the constitution of parachutes, bulletproof vests or even suspension bridges!

There are concerns though. If any of the GM spiders escape, who knows what could happen? Spiderworm giving someone superpowers? I doubt it, but realistically, they could affect the dynamics of the ecosystem. This does seem like meddling with nature and we cannot be 100% of any consequences that will occur. This is no doubt a potentially beneficial modification as well as being pretty cool (I had to say it, I want to be Spiderman) but do the ethical issues outweigh the advantages? We will have to see what the future holds.

Thanks for reading :)
Suhayl.

Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16399257
http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2012/01/uw-researchers-engineer-silkworms-to-produce-stronger-silk.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/CuttingEdge/spinning-tough-spider-silk-goat-milk/story?id=98095#.Twjj-m915Bk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/889951.stm

A Malaria Vaccine?

Mosquitoes. The very thought sends shudders up the skin. Those tiny, stealthy, blood-sucking, and absolutely pesky - no, absolutely vexatious insects only bring back bad memories of bites, itching, 24/7 long-sleeves and more itching. I was once bitten by a mosquito on the inside of my finger...while I was awake. Thank God there aren't any in rainy England (although, we are already being drained dry by those pesky taxes). But to me, a tourist in a foreign land, they are just an annoyance. To those that live with them, there is a much bigger threat than just the insect: the Plasmodium parasite which causes malaria.

What is malaria?

Malaria is a tropical disease which is one of the deadliest in the world. There are over 300 million new cases every year with over a million deaths. It is caused by a Plasmodium parasite entering the bloodstream from a mosquito whereby it travels to the liver (sometimes in under 5 minutes) via the bloodstream followed by attacking red blood corpuscles (cells which carry oxygen in the blood) and reproducing. This infecting can lead to diarrhoea, fever, vomiting and nausea (among other symptoms) and sometimes death. Malaria can stay benign in the blood and manifest later on and be transmitted by infected needles and blood transfusions thus making it very dangerous. 

As it is a tropical disease, many of the countries affected by malaria are LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) and so treatments are hard to come by or out of reach for the average person. There is no current licensed malaria vaccine but recent findings by researchers at Oxford University are promising.

The vaccine

New research has shown that 'basigin', a single receptor on the surface of red blood cells, and a protein 'PfRh5' on the parasite are imperative to malaria infection. Using antibodies to interrupt this link of the pathway to enter red blood cells could stop malaria.

In all strains of Plasmodium falciparum tested so far, interrupting the link protected the blood cells from attack. The vaccine which will be developed should prepare the immune system to attack PfRh5 on the parasite.

Current tests seem to so far be effective on animals and testing on humans will begin within two to three years if safety tests are successful.

 

So what does this mean?

This is brilliant news. The most advanced vaccine prototype at the moment (RTS,S) is only 50% effective so if this is a success, modern medicine will be revolutionised and countless lives saved. Prevention is better than cure and current treatments and drugs are expensive and can have unpleasant side-effects so a single vaccination will save a lot of money and be much more effective at preventing malaria than treatments can be at curing it or trying to prevent it manifesting or worsening.

However, some have said that the parasite will just find another pathway to infect the bloodstream so this one vaccine will not be enough. I feel that if scientists can find a weak link in the chain now, they should be able to find another one in another chain later on as their research accumulates and knowledge of malaria deepens. In my opinion we have to look at the glass half-full; after all, it is the Festive Season.

Random fact: Only female mosquitoes bite humans as they need the blood to help develop fertile eggs. So only half of the mosquito population are the pests I suppose.

Random fact II: When a female mosquito bites, its saliva contains a local anaesthetic to stop you feeling pain (which I guess helps it to not be squashed where it stands) as well as proteins which stop the blood clotting and it is this protein which reacts with the body to form those itchy sores we hate. 

This research is by no means a complete halting of malaria but it is definitely a start and shows promise for the future. And if that's not something to look forward to then I don't know what is.

Thanks for reading,

Suhayl.

:)

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16253364

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15624363

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/malaria_disease.htm

My First Entry

Doctor Cartoon by Andertoons

Hey everyone!


I'm Suhayl Kassam and I am currently studying my A-Levels. As you can probably guess, my lifelong aim is to become a doctor and through this blog, I will hopefully demonstrate to you my capabilities, share my experiences, give my view on contemporary scientific and ethical issues, as well as on any new research that emerges, and, finally, retain your attention and try and make you chuckle or even smile a couple of times. After all:


Smiling is infectious
You can catch it like the flu
Someone smiled at me today
So I'll pass it on to you
:)
(Bit cheesy, I know, but it rhymes, right?)


So anyway, who am I? I'd like to think that you'll find out more about me as we go along (it makes me feel like I'm a deep, brooding and mysterious character from whom an occasional piece of valuable information filters through). Although, to begin with, I'm a driven and hard-working individual who wants to read Medicine at university and do something worthwhile with my life.


So why Medicine?
Ever since I was a child, I've wanted to be a doctor. I think this stems from personal experience: my twin brother and I were born two months premature and throughout our childhood, the doctors and nurses treated us and helped us get through. I want to make a difference to the world and combine my love for learning and science with working alongside people.


This is my first blog so I'm learning as I go along. Therefore, any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated! I want to improve my blogging, but not end up like the guy in the cartoon above who seems to prefer a PC to a PhD!


Thanks for reading!
Until next time...
Suhayl.


Oh, and have a Happy New Year! :-D