BP #8 - Going Green Again

          After I read some of the websites, I considered that I can go greener in many ways. First, I know I always forget turning off the light when I go outside. I should be careful about it so I can save the electric energy. In addition, I will go to local restaurants that use food derived less than 100 miles away. Finally, I think I should collect rainwater to water my houseplants, which can save water as much as possible.

        I believe that American are more focusing on going green. Most people in my country are throwing the garages everywhere, and they do not mind what would affect the environment. Although the government had asked people to do so, they do not really take action to do it. Instead, Americans do care about the pollution problems and take action to prevent the earth from getting damage. After I came here, my behavior had changed a lot. I will care about the pollution as well, because everyone is doing it, I think I cannot be left behind.

BP #7 - Financial Responsibility

     

           According to Lubie Grujicic in “Financial responsibility for all: a myth or reality?” It states that as a society we all have to be financially responsible or when it comes to credit or spending. People’s lack of knowledge, credit card companies’ unclear explanations, and banks” misrepresentations are the reasons that involve in the financial problems of people. It also suggests the governments need to find way to help people understand the negative consequences easily. In addition, the President and the Congress can also dedicate to improve the borrowing crisis.

          This article states that many young people get trouble of using too much credit cards without knowing the detailed information about payment options. In society, many young people cannot wait to set up the credit card to earned credit of it. Most of them do not really sure about what the interest rate or late fee are. Of course, they do not really get help from other professional people. Since they get involved in it, they cannot stop spending money so that they are in debt and cannot afford to pay off it.
          To prevent young people credit card debt, it is best to avoid purchasing high-end luxury items. Since credit cards carry interest, an expensive item can end up costing a lot more if it is not repaid soon. Student credit card debt can be prevented by using it only enough to prevent inactivity fees or for emergency purposes only.
          In my country, young people also have trouble using too much credit card. They are in debt before they graduate from college. It seems to be a big problem, because they have pressure to repay the debt. After that, they feel exhausted and have no power to study, which is really bad for college students.

BP #6 - Mini Essay on HeLa and Informed Consent

        In olden days, researchers did research in patients without their consents. Some people may say it was a crime by using patients' belongings without their knowledge. Although cheating patients was not a good thing, but in fact, they should be proud of providing important resources to medical industry. Anyway, researchers deserved to do research in patients even though without telling them the truth.

Doing researches supposed to have enough resources testing different kinds of possibilities. For instance, Henrietta had no money to pay off her medical bills, so she went to a hospital which offered free treatments to every black people. Therefore, I think it is fair for doctors taking her cells to do research. It just as give something back in return.

           Surely, I did not hear about anything about this kind of history before I read this book. While I read the story about this issue, I did not think it is amazing. I thought that patients should give this small contribution to medical industry. Moreover, I do not think patients will admit doctors to do research in their bodies if there was a paper to ask them to do so. The only thing was for sure, which it would delay the process of finding new vaccine to cure people.

           In contrast, now people have totally different view than in the past. Today, societies have legal rules that govern their behaviors. They have to follow the rules to do research. They will get big trouble if they against the law.

             

BP#5-soda tax

          I consider that soda is really a bad becoverage while my brother always drinks it without eating lunch or dinner. Soda seems like tabacco, it makes our human cannot stop drinking it. Since the tabacco had increased the tax, meanwhile, soda should increase the tax also. Soda has too much sugar on it, which  makes children or adult obesity more harmful. In addition, it may cause a lot of health problems. For instance, soda will raise the median weight which will hurt our body harmfully. Moreover, it will increased the risk of diabetes. After children drank it, their body would get hurt from it. While I realize that the childhood growing is really important, I may support the children to drink that rarely. Increasing the soda tax, it seems to be a good way to protect the children's health, and prevents people who drink it frequently from getting many kinds of diseases. After the soda's price had increased, I think that people may not buy it that often.
          On the other hand, people say that increasing the soda tax will be a bad thing for the poor people, but in my view, it becomes a good thing. Poor people have to pay more attention to their bodies than the rich people, because they have no money to pay their medical bills. Drinking too much soda causes a lot of disease, which make their bodies meet the doctor frequently, in other words, it also is a bad thing to poor people.
          In short, taking good care of people's body is a hard thing. Government try to make a good way to keep our bodies be healthy. Increasing the soda tax is a step to achieve this goal. I believe that it is a good decision to all human beings.

BP #4 - Going Green

      I do really be concerned about food sustainability when I shop for food. I had tried my best to reduce my carbon footprint. I care about how to packaging to a minimum when I shop. For example, when I go to a market, I may chose to buy the loose tomatoes rather than boxed or plastic-wrapped tomatoes. Also, take reusable bags to the grocery store or bring my own recycle bag for packaging my food. In addition, I will try using cold water to wash my hand or launder things that don't need to be cleaned in hot or warm water. I go to a store which has lots of organic foods for sell often. I think there are many ways to "go green", such as take shorter showers to reduce water use, use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water, buy organic foods and so on.

BP #3 - Mini Research: Medical research in the 1940s / 1950s

          I had learned lots of information from the website "animal research.info", which has many medical researches. From 1940s to 1950s, there are many medical researches were recorded in our culture. For instance, in 1940, Florey and Chain first tested the effects of penicillin in mice, carrying out a simple test to find out whether penicillin protected mice against the effects of bacteria. By 1941, penicillin was being used to treat dying soldiers. And this research won the Nobel Prize in 1945. In addition, Corwin Hinshaw and William Feldman took the streptomycin samples and cured tuberculosis in four guinea pigs with it. Hinshaw followed these studies with human trials that provided a dramatic advance in the ability to stop and reverse the progression of tuberculosis. This research led to the first effective treatment - streptomycin. And we knew that tuberculosis was one of the commonest causes of death in a hundred years ago.
          In the 1950s, about 5,000 people who develop kidney failure every year in the UK, one in three would die without a kidney transplant. Joesph E. Murray developed kidney transplant techniques while working on pigs and dogs through out the 1950's. Soon human patients were getting the operation but a flaw still remained: many patients new kidneys were 'rejected' by their body.  Basically,  if the kidney was not a perfect match, the body would see it as a foreign object and attack it. In addition, the research of using monkeys and mice led to the introduction of the vaccines, which has saved millions of lives.

BP #2 - Taking advantage of someone

          It was summer and was about August, My friend who named Jenny asked me to go to her home without saying the reason to me. I was full of questions and just did what she wanted me to do. When I was at her home, she prepared lots of food for me and kept smiling. Therefore, I felt extremely nervous and I could predit that she had have something to ask me to deal with. Consequently, she begged me to help her to clean her fish tank. Of course, I was willing to help her, and I knew that she was afraid to catch fishes by hand. Easily, I finished cleaning it and we had talked a lot that day. She had hug me when I went home.And I could feel that she was gratful for my help.  I knew she was using me, nevertheless, I did not think that it was a bad thing, I thought that I was helping my friend with my own advantage.
          
           In my view, HeLa's family thought that HeLa was so glorious.They thought that HeLa's cells had helped a lot people which was a big honor. On the other hand, they considered that something was unfair for them. For instance, they had blamed that for getting nothing in return. Moreover, they thought that they had the right to know about taking HeLa's cells to do research by the doctor. And they was so mad that they even did not afford to see a doctor.