Biocentric Ethics Essay Example for Free

Biocentric Ethics Essay Biocentric Ethics Analysis There have been debates about GMO’s for decades. While farmers fight for their land and the continuance to produce, farmers were given the option to plant seeds that are genetically modified. The seeds in turn would grow more crops and last longer. The compulsion on the farmers to make ample crops and try to help world hunger would not just cost more for them, but it can also cause lack of trust between the suppliers and the consumers that in turn can lead to law suits, as well. Genetically engineered tomatoes helped reduce the standard methods used to prep, make, and grow crops in 1986. The method made the tomatoes resilient to various herbicides. Farmers started to use bacillus thuringiensis which is an insect killer, in the plants. This did not seem to concern the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Department of Agriculture (DOA) about the new technology. In 1990 when â€Å"Forbes article â€Å"The Lesser of Two Weevils† was released stating â€Å"that cotton farmers in the United States had put 100 million pounds of agricultural chemicals on their crop each year for the last several years† (Newton, Dillingham, Choly, 2006) the media went bonkers over this information. This caused controversy with the growers, distributors, and the media, arguing whether the altered crops will pose a threat to humans and the ecosystem. Countries we not happy with the carelessness and handling of the crops from the United States. Particularly, Germany did not agree with the United States methods. Other countries that did not use the genetically altered method reported traces of the chemicals in their crops. This transfer usually happens by the weather conditions. Changing of the seasons has many scientists believe the chemical transfer through rain and snow, possibly through insects, wildlife, and plants. When man interferes we must take into consideration of how the altered chemicals may travel and how it could be consumed by humans. Also, the ecosystem that includes the consumers, the sun, and the decomposers becomes fragile. When man changes  the DNA of plants it alters Mother Nature work and the ramifications can be irreversible, but can take many years to dis cover. Furthermore, there has been an increase of obesity that is said to be due to the modifications and hormones in the food. People become perplexed when there is a discussion of GMO’s and non-GMO’s trying to understand the difference and what can be patented. â€Å"The preferred approach of the industry has been to use compositional comparisons between GMO and non-GMO crops. When they are not significantly different the two are regarded as â€Å"substantially equivalent,† and, therefore, the GMO food crop is regarded as safe as its conventional counterpart (Arpad, 2001).† When genetically engineered bacteria was thought to enhance the hormones in cows and provide increased milk was claimed by Monsanto, the United Nations did not agree and people began to wonder if the genetically modified foods was a good thing after all. People pay attention to how much money they will make, and will try any new technology, rather than think or care about the dangers these things may pose. Stories showed on TV and aired on the radio on how many farmers lost their farms due to lack of crops from droughts, insects, and no rain, destroying crops. Many people showed empathy for these farmers knowing how tough they have it. There are songs that were made e.g., Rain on a scarecrow, for these historical moments and what our forefathers did in order to survive. There are some advantages to point out that the third world countries have with the use of genetically modified foods, such as the rice it could have more minerals and vitamins, which helps alleviate nutrient deficiencies. E.g., lack of vitamin A can cause blindness. Golden rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A) (Whitman, 2000)† was created by some researchers at an institute Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (SFIT) for plant sciences. The disadvantages of GMO’s are that there is no regulation to distribution. It is not a requirement to label the foods, so how do we know what we are eating? Without labeling or regulations how do we know if the food is safe for us to eat? This is when we have to think of health concerns like allergies because genetically modified foods potentially can cause allergic reactions in most people. Out of all the disputes on what may be right or wrong, or what should be used on the crops and or seeds, there is still a question, can the insects land the on chemically altered plants, then travel to other plants dropping any  substances that would interfere with the other plants that are not genetically modified? References Newton, Dillingham, Choly, Lisa H, Catherine K, Joanne (2006). Watersheds 4. Thompson Wadsworth. Whitman, Deborah B (2000). Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?. Retrieved from http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php Pusztai, Arpad (2001). Scarcity of Safety tests. Retrieved from Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health? Retrieved from http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/pusztai.html

Abusing the Force Essays -- Law Enforcement Social Issues Police Essay

Abusing the Force The fundamental purposes of law enforcement is the serve and protect the individuals of society. Rough treatment is often times afflicted upon unruly citizens as an alternative reform of discipline. Police abuse remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations of today. The secrecy, stress, and dangers of police work leads to an insular and close-knit occupational culture that results in a strong distinction between members of the police and society. An in-depth investigation on police brutalization and its causes of corrupting within the 1991 beating of Rodney King is evaluated by means of the credibility within the rights of citizens in Canada and the United States, the effects from prejudice affliction, and the societal disparagement on morals of the cultures in policing. Corruption is both a result and cause of the separation of the police from society. The isolation of the police can lead to a divergence of the values of law enforcement officials from those that the rest of society professes to uphold (McAlary, 1997). The early morning of March 3, 1991 illustrates the horrific crime in Los Angeles, California. Several California Highway Patrol cruisers chase Rodney King, a robbery parolee, speeding over 110 miles per hour down the Los Angeles strip. King, an African American, is eventually forced to stop after running through several red lights at intersections. As the other two passengers of the car complies with police requests to exit the car and are subdued with minor resistance, King refuses to exit the car, thus a beating is administered by three Caucasian officers at the order of their sergeant who is on the scene. He is subsequently stricken over 56 times by wielding PR 24 metal batons, kicked at least 6 times, and shot twice with a Taser el ectronic stun gun, holding over 50,000 volts of electricity per shot (Lepour, 1991). Additionally, twenty-three other officers stand watching on the scene in which none made effort or suggestion to stop the crude combat. Consequently, King suffers extensive injuries including skull fractures, broken bones, and nerve damage to his face and body. Meanwhile, George Holiday, one of the several civilian by-standees awaken by noises of the police helicopter and sirens, videotapes the initial beating from his nearby apartment. Twelve days later, the three police officers ... ...r peers from the rest of society. The division may be further entrenched by a perception on the part of some officers of public animosity towards the police (Will, G. F., 1998). Every instance of corruption is further reinforces the distance between society and the police by increasing public hostility and distrust towards the police. Policing is an extremely emotional occupation and it is difficult for officers not to involve personally in their work. They are not merely human forms of robots, firing their guns arbitrarily with a complete lack of sense or emotion. No matter what type of activities police officers are involved in, they are often required to use force to rectify certain situations, thus this primary discrepancy is difficult to distinguish between what is required and what is excessive force. As long as police officers play by the rules of their peer group and the public continues to negatively label them, any rapprochement between the two is unlikely. Fundamentally, police officers rely primarily on instinct and as long as their basic intention is to promote good and not evil while citizens need to trust that the instincts of an officer are generally correct.

Adoption of New Innovations Essay

Consumers go through five stages in the process of adopting a new product: 1. Awareness: The consumer becomes aware of the new product, but lacks information about it. 2. Interest: The consumer seeks information about the new product. 3. Evaluation: The consumer considers whether trying the new product makes sense. 4. Trial: The consumer tries the new product on a small scale to improve his or her estimate its value. 5. Adoption: The consumer decides to make full and regular use of new product. This model suggests that the new-product marketer should think about how to help consumers move through these stages. Individual differences in Innovativeness People differ greatly in their readiness to try new products. In each product area, there are â€Å"consumption pioneers† and early adopters. Other individuals adopt new products much later. Time of Adoption of New Innovations The five adopters groups have differing values. Innovators are venturesome—they try new ideas at some risk. Early adopters are guided by respect—they are opinion leaders in their communities and adopt new ideas early but carefully. The early majority is deliberate—although they rarely are leaders, they adopt new ideas before average person. The late majority is skeptical—they adopt an innovation only after a majority of people have tried it. Finally, laggards are tradition bound—they are suspicious of changes and adopt the innovation only when it has become something of a tradition itself. This adopter classification suggests that an innovating firm should research the characteristics of innovators and early adopters and should direct marketing efforts toward them. In general, innovators tend to be relatively younger, better educated, and higher in income than later adopters and non-adopters.

Comparing the Attitudes Demonstrated between Pre-War and...

Comparing the Attitudes Demonstrated between Pre-War and at War with Brookes Poem The Soldier and Owens Poem Dulce et Decorum est Dulce et Decorum Est was written at war in 1917 by an English poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen. Dulce et decorum est is written in a very bitter manner, by a man who had very strong anti-war sentiments. The 27-line poem, written loosely in iambic pentameter is told from the eyes of Wilfred Owen. The opening line of this poem contains two similes which compares the soldiers to beggars and hags ‘bent double, like old beggars under sacks’, ‘coughing like hags.’ This is not how we would portray young, fit, soldiers, but the fact of the matter is that they are no†¦show more content†¦Owen uses the word boys which reminds us of their youth, but having already described them as aged and disabled we come to the fact that their youth was stolen, and we are also confronted with the concept that they are innocent victims within the war. â€Å"But someone still was yelling out and stumbling† this is the line where Owen begins his vivid description of a gas attack death. It is introducing us to the situation this soldier is in from a third person view. The next line; â€Å"And flound’ring like a man in fire of lime† describes the helplessness of this poor soldier who is about to die. The image of the man guttering, choking, drown ing permeates Owen’s thoughts and dreams, forcing him to live this grotesque nightmare over and over again. The word ‘Dim’ in the next line has a lot of significance and meaning. Firstly it describes the scene, the light, giving it an eerie and gloomy feel, one with little hope. Secondly, it describes the chances this soldier has, having shown us that war can be left up to chance, Owen is describing the chances this boy now has for survival. ‘I saw him drowning’, shows that Owen directly refers to himself. This is to personify the entire poem, to make it much more real to the reader. It is showing us that all the horrors Owen has described are