"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

ethics - the gray area
June 24, 2004 - 8:44 am

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/nation_world_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2420_2984793,00.html

in a nutshell, it's about a boy born with a natural mutation that stops the production of a normal body chemical. the chemical is used by the body to moderate muscle growth.. so as a small child, his muscles are about twice the size of a 'normal' child.

now.. my first question is this:

being that we are headed towards genetic engineering/designer babies - do you think it's right that pursue such things? we could use what's learned form this boy and make it so that everyone has this chemical blocked - or just those who choose to have it done to the child.. perhaps with the intention of trying to create a superstar athlete?

my second question is that since this child's condition is 100% natural (as in not induced by man), should he be banned from atheltic contest? as the article points out, many athletes would want to do just what his boy's body naturally does to get bigger/stronger/faster/whatever.

my third question relates to this snipet:

"Some researchers are trying to turn off the myostatin gene in chickens to produce more meat per bird. And several breeds of cattle have natural variations in the gene that, aided by selective breeding, give them far more muscle and less fat than other steer."

is this good? bad? right? wrong?

anyway, i think it's an interesting article