Contrseption Essay

Cassie Konick

Ms. Medenica

Science 8A

April 25, 2012

           

Birth control is considered among the “Top 10 Inventions in History” along with language, the internet and plumbing (TotTenz 2012 Top 10 Lists).  The Economist magazine goes even further and says that the contraceptive pill may be the one invention that “defined the 20^th Century, particularly for women. (The Economist, The Liberator)

Contraception has existed for thousands of years, however, reliable birth control has only been around for 100 years.  The first commonly used birth control device was the condom.  Condoms were prescribed by doctors to protect men from STDs like gonorrhea and syphilis. By 1924 condoms were encourage by military leaders, who wanted to ensure that soldiers didn’t not contract STDs and bring them home to their wives and the government made training films with the slogan “Don’t forget, put it on before you put it in.” (PP, A History of Birth Control Methods, 5)

It is only during the last 50 years that there has been an improvement in the reliability and efficiency of contraceptives. This improvement is largely due to research and developments in science and technology in the field of contraception and the creation of birth control pills in 1956.  What makes the pill so important is that it was an invention where science first understood a biological process so well that is could engineer it for the public.  The pill was developed to copy the enzyme progesterone which was already known.

Improvements also came about because of women’s rights advocates like Margaret Sanger.  In 1924 she wrote “It is almost impossible to imagine the suffering caused to women, the mental agony they endure, when their days and nights are haunted by the fear of undesired pregnancy.” (Langley, How Birth Control Changed Everything).  The advances additionally were pushed by a scientist who supported women’s rights and a good friend of Margaret Sanger, an advocate for women’s birth control rights. One of the first women to graduate from MIT, Katharine McCormick, had both the money and interest in funding the development and clinical trials of synthetic progesterone.  Her support resulted in the launch of the contraceptive pill in 1956.  The invention on the oral contraceptive pill was followed by the intrauterine device (IUD) in 1961. 

In the United States, these technological advances took place during a time of social unrest and when people were fighting for women’s rights, including the right for a woman to choose whether she wanted to be pregnant or not.  Legal cases like Row v. Wade in 1973 created the issue about abortion rights which is still debated today (Bookrags.com/research/issues-and-developments in birth-co-scit). The consequences of a fairly safe and effective birth control method, give women the right to control if and when they would have a family.  They could have a control over their lives and this huge step gave them equal footing to compete with men.  As far as the pill, the technology helped to liberate women. (The Economist). 

            In 1959, only 3 years later the invention of the pill, researchers were working with Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (DMPA) which would suppress ovulation and women wouldn’t have to remember to take a pill every day (PP, 9).  The Food and Drug Administration did not approve DMPA until 25 years later.

            Part of the reason for this delay, is that although the technology was available, social values and concerns about risks associated delayed new breakthroughs in contraceptives from reaching the marketplace and customers.    In France, for example, women didn’t have reproductive rights until the 1970s and in many Communist countries birth control was illegal because dictators wanted to increase their populations.  The Vatican to this day does not support birth control.  In addition to social values and rights, costs for testing and the introductions of new contraceptive products is extremely high.

            The contraceptive pill has continued to be improved and in 2010 celebrated its 50^th anniversary (Watson/Conger-How the Male BC Pill will work).  Today the pill is the most popular contraceptive for women under 30 years of age and over 100 million women around the world start their days with it.  This is great news for women in the western parts of the world you use birth control, but the news is not all good.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, almost half of the pregnancies in the United States are unintended.  In the developing world the number of unplanned pregnancies jumps to 82!  What is even more shocking is that this figure only includes women in permanent or married relationships, and does not track teen pregnancy.

            While science and technology has revolutionized contraceptives, particularly the pill, there is still more work to be done.  Helping women in poor and developing countries access and correctly use contraceptives must continue.  Part of this is education and part of this is money.  Society still placed great pressure on women about access and contraceptives can have side effects.  Developing better formulas for current biological combinations, will reduce negative effects and convince people who may be skeptical about using contraceptives, how safe and useful they are.  Everyone in the world should have the right to choose when they are going to start a family.

           

http://www.alternet.org/sex/145948/how_birth_control_changed_everything/

 http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-human-inventions-of-all-time.php#ixzz1t3nRUQwS

http://www.bookrags.com/research/issues-and-developments-in-birth-co-scit-071234/

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/history_bc_methods.pdf

http://www.economist.com/node/347484

http://science.howstuffworks.com/male-bc-pill.htm

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1983884,00.html

Affects of Drinking and Smoking during Pregnancy

How does a mother behavior influence the development of their fetus?
This is the question i was asked to research in class. Although you may not realize it everything you eat affects your baby. That is why it is very important to watch what you put inside your body. Drugs like steroids can actually kill your baby. Smoking can cause brain damage, stunts the growth of the baby and facial abnormalities. Foods like lobster, salmon, tuna, and swordfish can cause damage to the babies bacteria since it has a high level of mercury in it. Drinking causes severe behavior/ leaning disorders and poor coordination. It cases fetal alcohol syndrome which is a disease that causes mental retardation.  Also it has been said that if a pregnant lady listens to music at a really high volume it can lead to the babies ear functioning improperly or the baby becoming deaf. 

Dominanace

In this lab activity i learned that there are three types of dominance. There is dominance, which is when the allele is completely dominant over the other. In this lab, the pea plants showed this. Then there is co- dominance. This means that both the alleles of a certain trait are expressed equally. In the lab the lentils showed this. The next type is incomplete dominance. This mean that one allele for a specific trait is not completely dominant over the other. I thought the most interesting on was what would happen when you bred a white and red snapdragon. The offspring turned out pink meaning that both the allele had mixed together to create a whole new snapdragon. This showed incomplete dominance.

Cytokine sis and Mitosis Reflection

In class we worked on two labs. These labs were suppose to teach us more about cell division. In out first lab i learned about all the stages of cell division. The first part of cell division is interphase. That is when  the chromosomes and the DNA double themselves within one cell. The next stage is prophase.In prophase the chromosomes start moving. The next stage is metaphase. In this stage the chromosomes all align in the center of the nucleus, getting ready for the next stage. Then there is annaphase, the chromosomes move to opposite poles of the cell. In the last stage, telophase the new membrane starts being created around the duaghter nucleii, preparing for cell division. Even though the process is very complex cells may not take very much time to duplicate and probably spend most of the time in interphase. 
In my second lab, i learned to tell apart the nucleus of a dividing and non-dividing cell. I looked at the time of an onion root. When you looked for a non-dividing cell it was just pure purple. And in a dividing cell you notice little dots which are the chromosomes on the onion tip root. I also found it interesting that plants are mainly used in experiments like these because there are constantly growing and going through cell division. 
I also learned that there is one difference between mitosis and meiosis which is that meiosis is a cell division between sex cells.During that process 4 daughter cells are created since there are two nuclear divisions.

 

Size doesn't matter

               "When it comes to male crayfish, not all claws are created equal". In these crustaceans, the left and right claws may very in size. — and the larger one isn't always the strongest out of the two.

This tactic is used to trick the opponent when in a fight.Also , this suspects suggest that within a species, “dishonesty occurs in nature more commonly than we expect.” 

When a two crayfish collide the male decides whether to fight or just leave. Research shows that a smaller, stronger crayfish may back down to a bigger, weaker crayfish. This shows how the bluffing tactic would be used. Studies show that a smaller limb would be stronger then the larger limb. The size and strength of the two claws might provide an advantage during a fight. It is also shown that crayfish many regrow there claws after injury. If theses tactics are used in crustaceans it could show a lot of dishonesty within nature.

                I thought this was interesting because it shows how a animal as simple as a crayfish could trick some one. It is interesting how it was related to dishonesty in nature.

 

GATTACA

1.(3) In my opinion, Vincent was someone who set out to do something and would stop at nothing to accomplish his dream. He would let no one bring him down because he wanted to go into space more then ever. Although he might have been nervous at times since and thing as little as an eyelash could show who he was, he was willing to take consciousnesses no matter what. Jerome on the other hand was very different. As it refereed to many times in the movie he had been known as a very respected person, but he then tried to kill himself. This confuses me because something must have happened to him. I think they were mirror image of each other because they both could combine there strengths and weaknesses to help the other, as in keeping balance in between each other.
2.(4) I don't think that Jerome was mentally ill, i think he was confused. He seemed to be somewhat superior but then killed him self in the end because he did feel as though he fit into his world anymore. Like he had grown himself.
3.(7) I think that  the society portrayed in GATTACA was wrong because its showed too much perfection. It obvious showed that someone like Vincent could go into space even with his heart condition because he wanted it more than anything. Everyone has the right to do anything they want if they try hard enough. Also i don't think there should be such a thing as designer babies, because every baby is born differently and in there own perfect way, no one can really control when someone is gonna die or if they will have a disease that's all up to fate. But this movie is showing the stereotype of perfection. No one can reach perfection because everyone is perfect in there own way and should not be molded into something they would not have been.

              I thought this was a really great movie. I loved the cast and the whole idea was fantastic. The message i thought was really good because i said that anyone can do what they set there heart to. I thought it was cool how it showed the idea of how a designer baby can be made. This movie also made me wonder if this is how the future will be. I would be interesting if people could actually make designer babies.

              Both the movies GATTACA and Cracking the Code of Life were based on the genetics and make-up of humans. GATTACA shows how things like designer babies could be made and how you could see what diseases they would have once born. Cracking the Code of Life was more of how to prevent diseases in someones DNA. Both these movies made me think about how a human can be formed and how something so simple as a wrong letter in your DNA can mess-up you life. The characters were very different since in GATTACA it was a movie and in Cracking the Code of Life it was more of a documentary on how scientists where finding things out by using someones DNA.

Cracking the Code of Life

Would you want to be tested to learn whether they had a genetic disease or predisposition if no cure was available?  Why or why not?

1.         I don’t like the idea of being tested because I would then live my life in fear of getting the disease or of my family numbers getting the disease.  It would feel like a lot of freedom was removed from my life and that I couldn’t live every without worry.  On the other hand, I understand why people would want to get tested.  If you were predisposed to a disease that would kill you and finding out would save or prolong your life, then the testing is good.  Despite all of this,  I wouldn’t want to be tested and then spend each day thinking about how quickly and painfully I might die and worrying when I was going to get the disease

Would you agree to have your DNA be part of the study?  Why or why not?  Would you want royalties for your part in finding the gene?  What if during the testing, the company discovered you had a gene that might result in a health problem later in life?  Would you want to be informed?  Why or why not?  

2.        I would agree to have my DNA be part of the study because morally, it is the right thing to do to help society and I believe in contributing to other people’s lives and the world around us.  I wouldn’t expect to get any money for medicines because it not’s right to be paid for something when it is just who and you didn’t work for or do anything earn the money.  If they discovered a problem gene, like I said in answer number one I would not want to know because I don’t want to spend my life worrying about something I might or might not get.

Identify the meaning of the terms genetic discrimination and genetic privacy.  What are some ways to protect against this type of genetic discrimination? 

3.      Genetic discrimination is when people are treated differently by insurance companies or their employers because they have a genetic risk of getting a certain disease or disorder.  People who have their genes tested increase their chances of genetic discriminaiton.   Genetic privacy is protecting people’s personal genetic information from distribution.  Some ways to protect against genetic discrimination are not keeping names with records, or keeping results in private places instead of big databanks and governments can pass laws to protect the identity or people who are tested.