Jeremy Rodriguez
10/6/19
Proposal 1-
Should we ban plastic bottled water? Inside nearly all water bottles, scientists find evidence of tiny particles called microplastics that could have negative health risks. Some of the chemicals used to create plastic bottles like BPA, PCBs & PAHs are toxic to humans. Another danger, due to improper disposal of water bottles many end up in landfills which will never degrade them and they also end up in the oceans where many animals like birds, fish, and even plankton eat them and die. The production of plastic drains deposits of finite fuel and emits many gases into the Earth speeding up global warming.
Some of the opposition includes the inconvenience to citizens to buying water, it also cuts a massive revenue source from major companies that produce the product, many distributors of water will also be affected by not being able to sell something they spend money on via government intervention. Even further rather than an all-out ban there could be measures to increase accessibility and compliance for recycling that would eliminate the dangers of killing wildlife and being trapped in landfills. Another possible issue would be there being more difficulty in transporting water for people to drink in the case of disaster relief. An increase in the volume of reusable could negatively affect people that generate income from the recycling of plastics.
There are plenty of other alternatives for plastic including reusable water bottles & bioplastics that can be broken down by animals and used as animal food if out at sea.
Proposal 2-
Should we be allowed to genetically engineer heritable traits into kids? There are already many oppositions to the ethical concerns of genetic engineering. Editing the human genome already happens to aid with certain diseases but only 1 has made the edit heritable. Editing is frowned upon due to the possible negative health effects, however even if we were able to 100% percent certain the edits wouldn’t do anything other than what we intended to do, should we? When we introduce new genes into people we could have similar negative effects like our GMO plants. The edits could lessen genetic variability in human beings which could be devastating if something happened to dwindle the human population. The market of designer babies could be done by companies allowing for unequal advantages to be added to children at high prices that few can afford.
Going forward with the editing could eliminate many genetic conditions that negatively affect human lives negatively. If done it could be funded by the government to pay to reduce certain diseases for no charge to families. Certain genes could be off-limits like those that are cosmetic in nature, like increasing muscle volume, changing color or rearranging the face to look more attractive as could significant alterations to one’s mental capability like raising intelligence.
Proposal 3-
Should we aim to eliminate aging? Aging is the common thread that makes all diseases appear, compound, and are most often the cause of death. With the help of technology eliminating aging could potentially make humans live to their biological capacity free of most diseases or even to live indefinitely long as a consequence. Its elimination would remove many of the worst diseases it’s linked to like Alzheimer’s as well as reduce human suffering.
Allowing people to live indefinitely has many theoretical issues. The longer lives mean people could mean the need for an exponential need for resources to sustain more people, it could mean an increase of social spending and treatment of diseases and supporting retired individuals. It could have great social consequences like a rise in conservatism and a lack of meaning and enjoyment.
Citations
Proposal 1
Shukman, D. (2018, March 15). Plastic: WHO launches health review. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43389031.
Hu, W. (2018, April 20). Could New York City Parks Be Going Plastic Bottle-Free? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/nyregion/nyc-plastic-bottle-ban-proposed.html.
Royte, E. (2018, May 16). We Know Plastic Is Harming Marine Life. What About Us? Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-health-pollution-waste-microplastics/.
Fairs, M. (2019, July 11). Bioplastics could be “just as bad if not worse” for the planet than fossil-fuel plastics. Retrieved from https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/15/bioplastics-bad-environment-damage-arthur-huang/
Proposal 2
Zimmer, C. (2018, December 1). Genetically Modified People Are Walking Among Us. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/sunday-review/crispr-china-babies-gene-editing.html.
Proposal 3
Lifespans Are Long Enough. (2019, February 21). Retrieved from https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/lifespans-are-long-enough.
