Research Paper – Genetic Modification

Robert Jackson

Research Paper – Genetic Modification

Advanced Composition

22 May 2008

Genetic modification is an important issue in the world today. As the human race progresses technologically, there are more doors opened to humanity. Some of these opportunities are for the better of mankind, others not so much. Genetic modification is one of those issues that can be argued both ways. It could be argued that genetic modification is the quickest and easiest way for the human species to adapt and learn how to cure a wide slew of diseases. At the same time, it could be argued that messing with genetic code was never intended to have been done by humanity and by doing so it endangers the entire ecosystem. Despite the side arguments genetic some aspects of genetic modification should be implored such as its methods, benefits, consequences, controversy, and oversight, or lack thereof.

According to Public Understanding of Biotechnology, genetic engineering is “the manipulation of genetic material (i.e., DNA or genes) in a cell or an organism in order to produce desired characteristics and to eliminate unwanted ones” (par. 5). This encompasses all living things, which is anything with DNA. Some of the types of genetic modification include gene therapy, genetic modification of food, and even cloning.

According to Wikipedia some of the benefits of genetic modification include: the production of disease and pest resistant crops, breakthroughs in gene therapy, and other uses such as the medicinal production of insulin (“GM” par. 8, “GM of Food” par. 1). Some other potential uses for genetic alteration according to Public Understanding of Biotechnology are allowing infertile parents to have children, replacing organs, and replacing lost children through cloning (Par. 21).

Farmers have used genetically modified crops to ensure the crop’s survival. In the state of Hawaii, farmers were able to create a disease and pest-resistant strain of taro, a plant that resembles a potato. This modification is also used in other crop species and is done so by splicing in certain genes from wheat and rice strains (Niesse par. 15). Genetically modified foods are not only limited to the Hawaiian Taro; there are a wide variety of other foods that are genetically modified. Wikipedia comments that several of these food strains are currently in use by the public. These products include, but are not limited to soybeans, corn, cotton, tomatoes, grape plants, sugar cane, sweet corn, and even rice (“GM Food” Par. 7).

Even though there are some benefits of genetic modification there are some repercussions, such as the controversy around cloning. These problems of cloning are, but not limited to, marginal success, chance of tumors, genetic defects, overgrowth syndrome, premature aging, lack of human knowledge on the topic, and probably most importantly the narrowing of the cloned and or genetically modified species’ gene pool. It is interesting to note that the success rate of cloning is three to four percent, leaving the other 96 to 97 percent with birth defects and tumors caused by the unstable embryonic stem cells. The successful three to four percent of clones are subjected to premature aging due to the fact that the age of a clone is determined by the original age of the donor and the sum of the clone’s age. It is also important to mention that cloning and other forms of genetic modification would narrow the selection of genes to that specie’s gene pool (PUB Par. 27). This might not have any adverse effects on the first few generations, but the fact remains that this would affect generations to come.

Some of the criticism on mankind tampering with nature’s use of genetic modification is that humans do not yet possess the knowledge to successfully edit the building blocks of nature. Another counter-argument that is expressed is that when one messes with a specie’s genes, one is playing God. While this argument might not hold much water, so to speak, with a non-religious person, there are other similar arguments that might.

For example, messing with specie’s genetic code could cause a decrease or a lack of genetic diversity in that specie’s gene pool (PUB Par. 27). By cloning some species, a species that is on the brink of extinction, there would be a lack of genetic diversity where previously there would have been a wider diversity if the original specie’s had not been cloned in the first place. This can be said because in the process of cloning, genetic material is only taken from one subject of the species, thus leaving just the genes that that subject carried with it. As a result, this would leave possibly hundreds of genes absent for future generations. While this might not be a big deal on a small scale, if one were to clone and entire species, this species would have nothing but the previous generation’s genes when it came time for the next generation. In conclusion when a disease eventually comes around that the species previously immune to, but that original ‘mother’ did not have an immunity to, then the entire species would be wiped out by that disease due to that lack of genetic material in that species gene pool.

As a result of these controversial concerns, one might ask Who oversees genetic modification? or What safeguards are in place? The answer to that question may surprise the reader. Certainty with all of the potential for misuse there must be a government administration in place to ensure that there is not any abuse or misconduct, right? Wrong. Unfortunately there does not appear to be a specific government organization in place for oversight. The only supervisions are a few lawmakers and the FDA, who monitors the genetic modification of food only. Genetically modified foods have been in the market since as early as May 1994 when Calgene, the company responsible for the production of the genetically modified tomato Flavr Savr, introduced Flavr Savr (“Flavr Savr” par. 1). Even now, most of the time the FDA is not worried about the long-term effects of genetically modified food; they are just concerned with the selling of it in the market place (Paynter par. 8).

While genetic modification is a ongoing issue in the world today, many people do not care to pay attention to it even though some of the possibilities of genetic modification will probably affect them in some way. Genetic modification continues to influence the world with the way that it is preformed, by its benefits and repercussions, its controversy, and its lack of oversight. This is why there needs to be a government or some other form of supervision put in place for the disease specific cases of genetic modification. So as to ensure that the genetic alteration of anything, not just food, is watched carefully to prevent potential catastrophes.

Works Cited

Niesse, Mark. “Hawaii Targets Taro Genetic Modification.” Associated Press. 7 April
2008. 8 April 2008. .

Paynter, Ben. “The Other Other White Meat.” Wired Magazine. November 2007. 14
April 2008.

Public Understanding of Biotechnology. “Cloning and Genetic Engineering.” Public
Understanding of Biotechnology. 2 April 2008. 22 May 2008.

U.S. department of Energy office of Science. “Gene Therapy.” U.S. department of Energy
office of Science. 6August 2007. 11 April 2008. .

Wikipedia. “Genetic Engeneering.” “Flavr Savr.” Wikipedia. 8 April 2008. 8 April 2008.
.
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Major Poet Essay

Robert Jackson
Major Poet Essay
Advanced Composition
19 March 2008

Bibliography

Quite possibly one of the best poets of all time, T. S. Eliot lived and died as a great poet. T. S. Eliot was an American by birth, being born on September 26, 1888 in the city of St. Louis Missouri. Though he did not immediately begin writing poetry in his early life, he was an exceptional poet when he started writing poetry in 1915, at the age of 76.

T. S. Eliot had an interesting writing style that would influence generations to come. T. S. Eliot often uses repetition in his works. This repetion adds to the tempo and makes it more uniform while it also adds to the importance of the word of phrase that is being repeated. The most famous of these repetitions would be "This is the way that the world ends" in his poem "The Hallow Men." His unique views in an interesting time era also gave him some captivating, new if not radical ideas like writing a play to a jazz tempo.

T.S. Eliot was not just a poetry writer but also a dramatist, or a playwright, which is a person who writes plays, as well as a literary critic of the arts. He only wrote one book, Old Possums, which was a children’s book published in his later years. T. S. Eliot died on January 4, 1965 at the age of 83, having lived a full life and leaving a legacy for others to follow, from which they could also learn.



Analysis of One Poem

The poem title “The Hollow Men” by T. S. Eliot would suggest that the poem is going to be about people who have little feeling on the inside, perhaps hollow feelings. The poem begins with, “We are the hollow men/We are the stuffed men/Leaning together” (I 1-3). According to J. Hillis Miller the hollow men that T. S. Eliot refers to are corpses that are separated form one another, unable to speak or communicate, quiet without meaning (par 1).

“The Hollow Men” is written in first person. This is quite peculiar because by using “we” instead of “they” the narrator takes the poem from a third person omniscient to a first person stance. This is a peculiar form of writing because T. S. Eliot writes about the hollow men in a way that suggests that he is an omniscient being who understands what is happening with the hollow men.

J. Miller’s continues to point out that the description that T.S. Elliot uses in “The Hollow Men” is about hollow men who have a void in their lives. These men are stuck in a realm, a huge valley. Eliot writes, “In this hollow valley/ . . . /We grope together/And avoid speech” (IV 4, 7, 8).

The hollow men live in a mortal state where death is all around them. Eliot continues, “In this valley of dying stars/ . . . /Of death’s twilight kingdom” (IV 3, 14). A new dark and shadowy figure is introduced appropriately named the “Shadow”:


. . . Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
. . . Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
. . . Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom. (8, 9, 14)


A shallow evaluation of this text would lead one to believe that the Shadow is death. In Section IV of his poem, T. S. Eliot writes, “Falls the Shadow/For Thine is the Kingdom” (V 9, 10), “In death’s other kingdom” (III 8), “Of death’s twilight kingdom” (Section IV, Line 14). What assumption is reached due to the fact that there is talk about a death’s kingdom in one part and in the next there is talk about a “Shadow” and his kingdom. The allusion to “For Thine is the Kingdom” is believed by most to be a biblical reference to the “Lord’s Prayer,” which reads, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever” (Mathew 6:13).

There is an obvious correlation between T. S. Eliot’s hollow men and people that work themselves to death in the world today. They work six to eight hour days, six days a week breaking off relations from friends and family. As T. S. Eliot puts it, “We grope together/And avoid speech/” (IV 7, 8). The timid river in “The Hollow Men” that all of the hollow men are on the bank of, could be time itself.

Overview of Three Poems

Some of T. S. Eliot’s other poetry includes “The Waste land,” “Ash Wednesday,” and “Four Quartets.” In these poems there is the common theme of the suffering of mankind, in one form or another. In most of these there are also allusions to hidden spiritual meanings.

In a way this technique is a form of modern mythology. Mythology is, “the collection of myths of a people, concerning their origin, history, deities, ancestors and heroes” (Wiktionary). This coincides with the reoccurring themes of T. S. Eliot’s poetry. In his poetry there is a common theme of a certain group of people and their deities or lack thereof.

Evaluation of Poet and His Poetry

T. S. Eliot is an excellent poet who enjoyed writing poetry. His unique writing styles will be used by poets, dramatists, and other forms of literary arts for generations to come. Even though T. S. Eliot passed away, he continues to live on in his works and has influence in other authors’ works.

Works Cited:

“T. S. Eliot.” Wikipedia. 10 February 2008. 12 February 2008.
.

“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” Wikipedia. 25 January 2008. 12 February 2008.
.

Miller, J. Hillis. “On ‘The Hollow Men’.” Modern American Poetry. 1987. 12 February
2008. .

Eliot, T. S. “The Hollow Men”. PoetryX. 1998-2008. 12 February 2008.
.


Eliot, T. S. “The Waste Land,” “The Four Quarters.” Bartleby.com. 2008. 12 February
2008. .

“Mythology.” Wiktionary. 30 December 2007. 12 February 2008.
.

Taking to all into Stride

Taking it all into stride


Taking it all into stride


Ready, Set, Spring Track


In the loop


Suddenly the sky is made of Silk


Come on People Lead Succeed

What is reality?

What determines reality?  Is reality where you are stuck in a job that goes nowhere in a town that is in the middle of nowhere with some people that think that they can do what you do, better?  If this is reality I'd much rather live in a dream world where I make 60,000 a year and live in a suburb where everybody knows everybody and looks out for one another.

Persuasive Essay

Persuasive Essay
Advanced Composition
15 November 2007

I believe that stop signs in Hot Springs are a waste of taxpayers’ money. There is no point in having stop signs in a town of 300 people. I believe that if people really need stop signs in Hot Springs to direct them then maybe they shouldn't be driving at all. When I am behind someone who stops at a stop sign when no one is coming, it just takes up more of my time. In that time a lot can happen. For instance some one could come after the first driver decide to go resulting in the person in back, in this instance me, to actually have to stop and wait even longer, wasting even more time.

But you might say that stop signs prevent deaths by allowing people to be more cautious of other drivers. Stop signs save lives. Nobody dies because they stop for a stop sign.

This is wrong for several different reasons. One of these is there may actually be an emergency, lets just say for instance a man is taking his pregnant wife to the hospital because she is in labor and the guy in front of him an older fellow decides that he must stop at the stop sign, where he would have otherwise went and then he saw a car coming down the street about a block away and he misjudges the speed at which the car was traveling in his old age, and doesn't go.

A minute passes. The older driver goes. No harm done right? Wrong, the young couple makes it to the hospital and the child is lost, and the doctors say that if they had been there a minute sooner they would have been able to save the child.

Who is to be blamed for this tragedy? The old man? No the stop sign, because the old man would have gone if it hadn't been for the stop sing and he would have seen the car but knew that he could make it across the intersection and they young couple would have been the proud parents of a young baby boy/girl.

Another example of harm coming as a result of stop signs in a small town as Hot Springs would be an increase in road rage. People would be more aggravated as a result of having to stop for stop signs when nobody is coming. This is my new policy that I propose for people to follow in Hot Springs: No cop, no stop! They are just wasting everybody’s money and time that can be directed at more beneficial projects like finding a cure for cancer or AIDS.

Vocab. 8

Book Cover

Paycheck

Advanced Composition

19 November 2007

The dark and rain drenched night was as dark and wet as the Titanic's murky Ball Room. The rain was down pouring outside. Jack was all alone at his computer attempting to hack the Department of Defense's mainframe computer system for a private contractor. He tried telling himself that he needed the money, it was just another paycheck, but even though he denied it he really did it for the thrill, just to prove that he was intelligent enough to do it. It was a thrill he hadn’t had since the last time that he went BASE jumping in Arizona.

Jack first hacked a computer at the age of 12 and had been an addict ever since. Five years of computer hacking had cost him a lot. Jack was still in school, but barely. His grades were slipping and teachers would continually tell him what great potential he had. He hardly left his house though still got out every now and then but he didn’t do many social things. The last thing that he did was go BASE jumping with one of his online partners in crime at the Grand Canyon. It was a tough getaway considering that they had to avoid the Park’s Rangers.

Jack had fun though. He was more of a reserved adrenaline addict who would rather carry on meaningless relationships, with others just doing the same than to try to have an actual meaningful relationship, with that perfect girl.

And he was in!

Jack couldn’t suppress his surprise, he knew that he could do it; he just hadn’t expected it to be so easy. Well to tell the truth it wasn’t, it took a very experienced computer hacker to do it, but then again not every computer hacker had been hacking as long as Jack had been.

Now to get the job done, there was only so long that Jack would be able to be in before the DOD discovered that they had been hacked and started to run sweeps to try and discover Jack’s location. But he wasn’t worried. He had three minutes to get out before they decoded his IP address-masking software written specifically by himself. He started the system’s analysis that he was being paid to run; his contractor wanted a look at what the DOD’s mainframe looked like without having to actually risk his security. And he was done. All that was left was to upload the information using an encryption software, again developed by Jack, to his contractor’s temporary email account and $50,000 would be wired to his account.

The file was sent. An IM window opened:
“Is this all of it?”
“Yes, everything that you need is right there . . . Where is my money?”
“My associate has just transferred the funds to your account. Good job. We may require your assistance in the future. Have a good evening, Mr. Anderson.”
“Wait . . .”
“What?”
“You need anymore help doing impossible hacks and what not”
“Good night, Mr. Anderson”

Jack couldn’t help but to smile. Even though his employer, God knows who, couldn’t see his face or hear his voice he still knew that Jack was being sarcastic.

After a quick check of his bank account Jack decided that he was going for a run. At least that’s what he told himself. To tell the truth Jack hated to be around the place that a hack occurred afterwards. He didn’t know why it was. The FBI would find him if they found out that he hacked the DOD. Although he wasn’t worried. If found him, they probably would lock him up in a small white cubicle, either that or shoot him for treason. Either way it wasn’t so bad. He’d either have a job or be put out of his misery.

Running. No where particular just to run and feel free. The feeling that nothing else matters except one foot in front of the other. Jack ran through the dark city streets all alone: free and yet exposed to the car of a gun for hire. Jack heard the tires of the car but not the gun as the car sped up and put a .45 cal slug into his back.

The impact of the round in his chest cast him to the ground. He was exposed. Somehow he had landed face up. Odd that I landed face up. I should be face down. Jack lay there as the rain fell on his face, feeling it run down like the tears that his family would soon shed. He became tense and then went to sleep.

The assassin needed not to double check his work. Jack was just another paycheck.