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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2004)
C ommentary F ebruary 18, 2004 T he C lackamas P rint • 5 Custom babies create controversy* Genetic manipulation eliminates human individuality Jadon Triplett T he C lackamas P rint How real can life be when it’s designed in a Petri dish? While this issue is by no means new, it is still an important one, especially considering all the advances that have been made in the field of genetics. It is an issue that has lurked beneath the surface for many years. The human genome project has been completed. We live in an age where a person can choose whether they want a baby boy or girl, using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which is an embryonic analysis used to identify unhealthy embryos in couples that have a his tory of genetic disease, such as cystic fibrosis or hemophilia. The next step is to use the existing technology to breed out genetic disorders. The idea doesn’t sound bad to begin with, until one How do you feel about genetic engineering Dana Weesner “You want to have healthie and brighter people, yes, but it’s also possible to make smaller, stupider peo ple too, people that could just be used as drones.” stops to consid^just who is creat ing man in his own image. When we get to choose the genetic makeup of our babies, we could be inadvertently eliminating some of our greatest assets. For example, if one attempts to shape a child’s genetics so his or her learning styles will fit the mold of an educational factory, it would disallow for conditions such as Attention Deficit Disorder. Couldn’t that put a damper on cre ativity? If one eliminates the pos sibility of irrational thought, couldn’t it effectively kill imagina tion? In the 1997 film “Gattaca,” every newborn’s genetic features are options to be chosen and undesirable qualities bred out. The film’s protagonist is conceived naturally (in the back of a Buick, in fact) and is bom with a heart prob lem and other undesirable imper fections. He faces discrimination by a genetically superior class of people that all look the same and is labeled an “invalid.” While Hollywood may seem like a bad place to turn for wisdom (and yes, I know people will never drive electric cars like the crazies in this film), the movie is plausible enough thait it caused me to won der about the wisdom in designing babies when I first watched it years ago. We live in an age where science tends to push forward, not stop ping to think whether it should. There are some decisions that should not be left in our hands. In the not-so-distant future, there will be people who will want more then just healthy genes for their children. They will want to be able to pick their baby’s eye. color, hair color and facial features. Sound insane? Imagine a cou ple that is morbidly obese and don’t want their child to be Cyndee Mady Co E ditor -I n -C hief Whether a woman desires the hottest new shade of lipstick or those trendy new stilettos that are sure to create permanent feet and back ailments, women have always paid a high price for beauty—but where does one draw the line when it comes to safety over cos metics? Growing up in the land of Barbie dolls and super models gives the average woman a false perception of what “normal” should look like. With the advent of silicone breast implants, women were able to take the fate of their breast size into their own hands—until the FDA stepped in, that is. More than a decade ago, the FDA banned silicone gel breast implants pending further investi gation into the potential dangers of faulty devices. According to intelihealth.com, the FDA still has concerns over the frequency of breakage that causes the implant to leak silicone and the effect the leakage has on Andy Wheeler P hoto C ourtesy of G lamour M agazine —Nov. 2000 Upon removal, tests showed that actress Kathryn Gordon’s implant had become full of fungus (hence the black color) and contained an entire teaspoon of bacteria. Chiefs' Comer: Hunter Breedlove Cyndee Mady !Co E ditor - in -C hief “As long as you’re not using it to clone some-" body, person ally I’m all for it.” Zaisha Starlin As the field of bio-genetics con tinues to push forward, people should ask themselves if. this is an end to which we should proceed. Staying abreast of potential risks of implants “I think that a lot of what makes us us is our unique ness, and if they want the same thing then we will end up with a cookie-cutter world.” “It has useful purposes, although man being the crea ture that he is, will make it into a genetic mutation that will destroy the planet.” ridiculed for being fat. So they do the best thing they can for their child: make him or her look like all the other kids, so he of she won’t be picked on for being different from all the other kids. People can go to the pet store to a choose puppy; they can go to Fry’s to pick out the perfectly designed computer with all the right features. Should par ents really be able to select their children? When it comes to establishing rapport with one’s employer, it may become necessary to magical ly transform into a chameleon (more commonly known as brown-nosing); nonetheless, an essential quality in extending the duration of employment is to stay within the boss’s good graces, idiosyncrasies and all. In my 25 years of gainful employment, I’ve had the distinct opportunity of encountering vari ous types of bosses. I have also learned the best ways to deal with the body. The'website highbeam.com reveals that syndicated talk show host Jenny Jones had her original breast implants replaced four times, with seven surgeries in all. After 11 years of suffering, she finally had them removed, descending from a 36B to a 36AA. “I finally unloaded them,” said Jones. “I can hug people again.” Many may think the saline alternative to silicone is a safer solution. Former actress Kathryn Gordon would disagree. A Glamour Magazine article by Lisa Collier Cool appeared in the November 2000 issue, retelling Gordon’s horrific experi ence with her saline implants. Her symptoms included: achy joints, fatigue and thinning hair, but it wasn’t until she started to breast-feed her daughter that her symptoms escalated to a whole new level. Her nipples began to bleed; she had slurred speech, spine chills, severe pain in her hands ... “I couldn’t even open a jar of baby food,” said Gordon. “It was like having, the flu all the time.” Gordon saw numerous doc tors, resulting in the same conclu sion each time. “They’d give me a big speech about how the body is made of salt water, so it wouldn’t matter if the implants had leaked or rup tured,” she said. “They all felt my implants couldn’t be the prob lem—reven though, by then, I had severe breast pain.” The turning point in Gordon’s life came when she consulted with Dr. Susan Kolb from Atlanta, who recognized her symptoms as relating to a leaky saline implant. “I started crying when she asked questions like, ‘Are you slur ring your words?’ and ‘Do you feel like someone is scratching inside your chest?’ At last I’d found a doctor who didn’t think I was crazy and actually understood what I was going through,” said Gordon. Her implants were promptly removed. The implants had turned black from a fungus, which spread to Gordon’s bloodstream, causing her illness. Gordon fully recuperated six weeks later after intense anti-bacterial treatments. Wow, that’s a lot to endure just to fill out that little black dress! Though most women think men are all about “boobs,” they are just as bad as women when it ■ comes to making snide remarks as a busty woman with obvious fake ones passes by.’ Real men should prefer the real deal, no matter the size. So if a woman is getting implants for the man—DON’T. If he can’t accept the woman for the person she is, he’s not worth it anyway. If the decision to get breast implants is a personal one, however, ask yourself the follow ing questions: Should the debate be “Silicone or Saline?” Or is the real debate “Health Risks versus Aesthetics?” The many faces of the bad boss-blues each. The first type of boss one might recognize is the “Bully Boss.” This is the boss who sin gles out one person to needle throughout the day or perhaps the week, while the other minions just laugh and bide their time until they too, become the target of Bully Boss. There are a couple of ways to approach Bully Boss. One can simply put up with the abuse arid relive childhood memories that conjure up that nervous tick in the right eye, holding onto the notion that Bully Boss will soon get bored and focus her browbeating efforts on the next poor sap. Or, one can stand up to Bully Boss, gain a little self-respect and peer admiration in the process, and tty to avoid getting fired a week later for showing up to work five min utes late. The “Irate Boss” is different than the Bully Boss in the fact that he’s not prejudice—he hates everyone the same! The best way to handle Irate Boss is to avoid him at all costs. I was once asked why my irate boss Bob never yelled at me, to which I replied, “Because he can never find me.” A- third type of boss is the “Know-it-All” No matter what brilliant idea an employee comes up with, if it wasn’t the Know-it- All’s idea, it’s not going to fly. The only way to handle the Know-it-All Boss is to make her think it was her own idea. This way, the employee’s great idea gets imple mented and operations run smoother; unfortunately, there won’t be any credit where credit is due. Speaking of the boss taking credit, the next boss type is the ever unpopular “Two-faced Boss.” This is the boss who listens to all ideas, tells employees how much he appreciates their input and to keep up the good work, and the moment the door is closed, calls his own superior to convey “his” great new idea. Unless one has the documen tation to pull a Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl,” you’re basically screwed with a capital “S.” The final boss type is the “Good Boss.” This is the boss who praises her employees’ worth, always wears a smile and comes through on all of her promises. Finding the Good Boss, however, is like trying ■ to find a needle in the haystack. Thev are far and few between. But buvers beware—Good Boss is often confused with Two-Faced Boss. ]ust remember, if it sounds too good to be true-—it probably is.
