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.