Colleen Morrison
Human reproduction and population growth have long been subjects for authors who lead their readers on fascinating journeys into the "what-if" world of oppressive and deprived societies. No longer solely the stuff of science fictionor fantasy, however, today the topic
is drawing
attention from scientists, from governments and from everyday folks who are
worried about carbon emissions and global warming.
How many are too
many?
Recently, thanks
largely to the tabloid press and the world of reality television, large families
and multiple births have been front page news, as viewers are welcomed into the
lives, and living spaces, of families who have chosen to raise huge broods.
Perhaps less widely recognized, the television drama, "Big Love," puts a
different spin on large families, suggesting that for some, reproduction on a
large scale is a divine charge. Either way, the message seems to be the same: a
world of plenty awaits those who choose to multiply
fruitfully.
But the message
may be misleading. There is no doubt that the Earth and its finite resources are
shrinking as the human population grows.
And the population is growing rapidly. In the time it took to type this
sentence (roughly 6 seconds), the global population rose from 6,788,077,675 to
6,788,077,683; in one year's time, the population grew by nearly 80 million
people. Every one of those new little beings will become a consumer of air and
water, not to mention food, shelter and clothing.
Getting back to
zero
Population
experts suggest that we are more likely to make gains on global warming if we
slow the rate of human reproduction instead of focusing our efforts on becoming
more environmentally conscious. For example, when a woman produces a child, she
puts additional pressure on the world’s fresh water supply, because no matter
how much the mother and child try to limit their footprint, that child must
consume water for survival. When she chooses not to reproduce at all, however,
the same mother limits the additional pressure on natural
resources.
Data published in
the United Nations "World Water Development Report," suggests that nearly half
the world's population will feel some water stress by 2030. Good sources of
fresh water are an important key to economic development and population growth;
ironically, that development demands increasing amounts of fresh water. While
the experts urge governments world-wide to begin making significant investments
in infrastructure to develop additional fresh water resources, a more effective
long-term solution may be limiting the rate of population growth, a message that
can be touchy and not always welcomed.
Takeru V.
Maeda
In Sri Lanka, many Tamils have reported to have been kidnapped, murdered, and forced out of their homes by police and threatened by pro-government militias after the end of the civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government.
Colleen Morrison
The genetic sciences continue to add to our understanding of the human animal, but that knowledge doesn't come without controversy. The results of research have been likened to eugenics, and right-to-privacy questions surface frequently. Such is the case with a new study that suggests that variations in the Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, what some
scientists call the "warrior
gene," may be predictors of an individual's tendency to join a gang and to
participate in violent activities.
Predicting gang
membership
The argument is
an understandable one: genome research reduces an individual to a string of
genetic code which is a predictor of the future--poor health, bad
behavior--traits that, when made public, may lead to discriminatory
practices.
The latest
research, which comes out of the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at
Florida State University, indicates that males with "low-activity MAOA variants"
are more likely to become involved in gang activity, and some variants may point
to individual gang members who are likely to engage in violent activities.
According to Kevin M. Beaver, who led the study, females are not affected by
this genetic variation.
The US Department
of Justice identifies a gang as "an organization of tightly bonded youth who are
joined together and controlled by a criminal leader." In the National Youth Gang
Survey for 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, over
86 percent of law enforcement agencies in large cities reported handling
gang-related problems.
MAOA and
aggression
In 2001, Dr. Rod
Lea and his team of researchers completed a study of the human genome that
suggests that it was their MAOA variations that triggered the adventurous spirit
in New Zealand's Maori and prompted them to embark on staggering ocean-going
voyages. A further effect of the genetic trait, however, may be issues of
aggression and alcoholism. Dr. Lea goes on to explain that genetic differences
are not necessarily the "cause" of certain behaviors; in the presence of
environmental factors, however, they may make an individual more likely to
exhibit those behaviors. Nonetheless, his research led to a firestorm of
controversy.
Research in the
early 1990s suggested that genetic makeup and violence have a cause-and-effect
relationship. In his study of one Dutch family, Dr. H.G. Brunner found that male
members of the family who shared a specific genetic trait displayed a heightened
level of aggressive behavior when exposed to stressful stimuli. The behavior
today is known as Brunner syndrome, or monoamine oxidase
deficiency.
The government was accused of ethnic cleansing after more
than 300 ethnic Tamils were forced-evicted from their Colombo homes in
nighttime police raids on June 7. Homes were raided by police and families were
told to quickly board buses to be taken to the war-torn north-east districts of
the city. The police claim they are trying to rid the city of terrorist but it
seems like almost any Tamil is being targeted by the government and fear and
tensions are rising more than ever.
While some of
have been lucky enough to escape unharmed by the police, many unfortunate Tamils
have suffered at the hands of the militia through kidnapping and murders.
According to a charity worker, the number of Tamils disappearing around
Trincomalee has significantly increased in the last three months. Some are
convinced that the killings by the militia is a strategy to drive out the
Tamils. Many families voluntarily moved out of their homes after being told that
their area is high security zone
and yet, also fearing they'd be targeted by the militia. Some even had to sell
their land below value to ensure a quicker flee.
While homes
and lands are being left behind, the government claim they're making progress
with their economic development by having the opportunity to create new roads,
power plants, and irrigation schemes in the new vacant areas, while also hiring
Sinhalese workers and offering free land and housing. Police in Colombo went on
to claim that their relocating of the Tamil inhabitants was to keep them safe,
away from the capital so that law enforcement can root out insurgents.
The Tamils have fought since 1983
for their own share of Sri Lanka through the Sri Lankan civil war, but have lost
to the government which declared victorious just last month. Their number in
Colombo
The
government initially denied the raids ever took place, yet after a recent court
order made by the Centre for Policy Alternatives turning up in the local
newspaper, Sunday Leader, raids
halted and president Rajapakse expressed regret over the evictions. He went on
to vow that officials during the raids who had exceeded their authority will
face disciplinary actions for any wrongdoing or unnecessary suffering they have
caused.
Despite the
government seemingly in defense for the Tamils, helping them to return to their
homes, it was unclear whether they were going to be free of this sort of
oppression and discrimination and violence. Until then, the fears will continue
to linger in Colombo for Tamils.
5:00 AM - June 4, 2009
It seems that racism continues to loom in South Africa, especially for a theater group whose production promotes diversity and interracial harmony in South Africa. The accusations hit after an onstage kiss between a white actress and black actor. According to the actors who are part
of the production, Carolyn Forword walked off set after she
was directed to kiss her cast member on the lips, who deemed the smooch
"unhygienic" and "inappropriate" for the kid's show.
However, the
director and fellow cast members including, Unathi Dyantyi, who she opposed to
kiss, felt that her reaction was racially motivated -- underlining the
still-sensitive issue of racial discrimination in South
Africa.
"I'm
speechless," said Dyantyi. "What's unhygienic about the kiss? And what's
unnecessary about it? It is necessary for what the firector is aiming to do.
He's trying to convey a message that it's OK for different cultures to fall in
love. We're a multicultural country and we're trying to convey
that."
Dyantyi and
the play's director, Leslie Ehrhardt, describe Forword's physical reaction on
being directed to kiss her fellow cast member; drawing away from Dyantyi,
pushing him away at some point, and even noticing her negative facial reactions,
relating it to the way she must've thought on how kissing her black co-star was
'the worst thing in the world.'
Forword made
claims that her reaction did not stem from personal racial prejudice, and that
her belief in her decision to walk was strictly non-racial, thinking that the
next venue where the production was set to perform at -- her old Catholic school
-- wasn't going to take the kiss well.
For director
Ehrhardt, the site of seeing Forword, 22, react the way she did -- with
discriminate connotation baffles him because of South Africa's relatively young
democracy.
In April
1994, after decades of apartheid, the African National Congress was put into
power to help establish non-racial democracy and to help soothe the scars of
past racial segregation. The new government looked to tackles social issues that
plagued the nation for generations, to help the impoverish and uneducated and to
work for a better interracial harmony. However, in recent years, because of the
difficulty in trying to make up for generations of social neglect, the ANC has
taken hits for failing to handle the increasing poverty rate, even among the
white population.
The ANC has
worked to create equality since 1994 but because of it's relatively young
presence, many still hold onto past beliefs and bitterness.
5:00 AM - June 4, 2009
Colleen
Morrison
A movement is building in certain circles, warning against the loss of Earth's biodiversity, the huge assortment of plant and animal life that covers every nook and cranny of our planet. Today, the conversation bumps quietly against the much louder one about global warming.
There are voices, however, like that of British MP
Barry Gardiner, that ask us to pay greater attention to this issue. In his
recent opinion piece for BBC News, Mr. Gardiner urges us to think big when we
consider changes in our environment.
Warming - better
or worse?
Environmental
issues associated with global warming have received increasing attention for
years. Glaciers and snowpack are melting; the oceans are growing warmer;
permafrost is disappearing – the projections point to dire consequences. On the
other hand, environmental economist Robert Mendelsohn and his colleagues raise
questions about the potential positive economic impact of global warming on
American agriculture. It's a complex issue.
Regardless where
the discussion of global warming leads, the cautionary story of diminishing
biodiversity is borne out by researchers around the globe. For example, a team
of scholars headed by Terry L. Miller, of the Center for Environmental Science
and Policy at Stanford University, suggest that the 0.6° C increase in average
global temperature is already causing a measurable change in plant and animal
species. They argue that modern global warming, combined with the destruction of
natural habitat, has the potential to change the relationship between species on
Earth and may result in extinction for some.
Biodiversity
matters
More recently,
Whitman Miller and his team at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
found that increasing levels of CO2 are damaging the shells of
oysters along the East coast. These animals were already in serious trouble as a
result of overfishing, so much so that Congress recently enacted legislation
that requires NOAA, NASA and the National Science Foundation to continue to
monitor their status.
While it's true
that species come and go, biodiversity is critically important to the welfare of
the human species on Earth. The oysters offer one small example: mollusks in the
coastal estuaries of Chesapeake Bay filter water through their systems when they
feed; in the process, they purify the water, removing algae and other solids
suspended in it. As they die off, the waters in the area grow more polluted and
less able to support life of any type.
5:00 AM - May 28, 2009
Colleen Morrison
Genetic researchers are confident that their work will eventually lead to a higher quality of life for humans around the globe. In the past few weeks alone, separate teams have launched
projects to address both common and
obscure health conditions.
An international group hopes to learn the relationship
between blood pressure and genetic features so doctors can better prevent and
treat the condition, which affects nearly 1 in 5 people in the USA. At nearly
the same time, the National Institutes of Health announced a program to uncover
the mysteries of rare and neglected diseases to stimulate the development of
drug treatments.
A Potential
Downside to Genomic Research
There is
potential for misuse of human genome information, however, and it reads like the
stuff of science fiction. The questions about how genome information may be used
in the future are very personal. For example, could an employer use an
individual's genetic information to decide between job candidates? Could an
insurance company use that information to refuse coverage to someone predisposed
to certain ailments?
Issues of race
and ethnicity surface with great frequency when talking about genomic research.
Doctors recognize that diseases like cystic fibrosis, Tay Sachs and sickle cell
disease occur with greater frequency in specific, identifiable population
groups. Other, more hurtful and harmful discussions, however, often address
traits that cannot be characterized by genetic variation.
Cautionary
Notes
Genomics reveal
more about humanity and heredity every day. Current research concludes that the
entire human race is 99.9 percent identical, genetically; it's that .1 percent
of variation that makes for difference among peoples. Issues of race, ethnicity
and genetics frequently result in heated discussion and debate, and those
involved with genetic and genomic research insist that discussions of racial
difference must address cultural, environmental and behavioral factors rather
than genetic traits alone.
Health officials in the
5:00 AM - May 21, 2009
Colleen Morrison
The
Influenza A (H1N1) virus continues to make its way around the globe; it has
already spread through 33 countries and resulted in a number of deaths. To date, the largest number
of
fatalities has occurred in Mexico, and
genetic scientists believe they may be making progress toward an
understanding why people in that nation have been hardest hit.
Alike, yet
different
Researchers at
Mexico's
The study was implemented as
part of an international push to identify genetic differences in unique
populations, in part to identify specific genes that may have an impact on human
health. Dr. Gerardo Jimenez-Sanchez and his colleagues set out to compare the
genome of Latinos of mixed European and Amerindian blood (Mestizo) with other
known groups. Their findings, and others like it, may one day help to explain
why different genetic subgroups are more or less susceptible to illness and
disease.
It's science, and it's
complicated.
The world of genomic research is
complicated. It begins with a genome, a sequence of genetic material that
identifies an organism's biological heritage. In humans, the genome is
associated with chromosomal DNA. The genome sequence in humans is easy to
distinguish, at least to a genetic biologist; much of the sequence is the same
throughout the species. Genomic researchers study specific subgroups of humans
in search of identifiable differences, or variations in the human
genome.
Many people have heard of the Human
Genome Project, a controversial initiative launched in 1990 by the US Department
of Energy and the National Institutes of Health to identify and store
information about the human genome. That project was completed in 2003; today,
public and private organizations study the information to understand the
relationship between genetics and everything from addictive behavior to
cancer.
Research suggests that genes
play a role in the occurrence of asthma, diabetes and many other common
diseases. Findings from genome research are included on the International
HapMap, a record that shows common patterns of variation in the human genetic
code. Information from the HapMap then aids researchers around the world uncover
genes that have an impact on health and disease in humans.
Takeru V. Maeda
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