SUJA topic presentation

Hi all,

presentation of SUJA topics by each classmate took place in class today, and all I can say is that I am looking foward to writing a convincing and compelling paper, as well as knowing more about how my peers are arguing their topics which included synthetic biology, carbon fixation and euthanasia.

However, probably due to haste and lack of organisation, I felt that I could have stated my topic's controversy more clearly, instead of providing an example driven stand. So here I would like to briefly explain again the various arguements surrounding this subject and where the "controversy" is.

In short, the tentative title for my paper would be "Medical advances: real hopes or false promises?" It re-examines the hype that is created around new medical technology and research findings, and proposes an alternative view of slowing such research advances or even discontinuing some.

One might ask why we should stop something which has apparent benefits for all mankind? Afterall, ever since the discovery of penicillin, medical drugs and research findings have successfully increased our quality of life and our life-span tremendously. Long gone are the days where a single virus could wipe out an entire population and patients who have lost their limbs to diseases are not able to walk again. The science surrounding biomedical research and technology have been so advanced that world population has exploded over the past centuries and humans remain an ever more dominant species. This is precisely the view shared not only by patients and non-scientists, but also by many other researchers, medical practitioners and drug sellers all over the world. Medical advancements are indispensible where improvements in human life is concerned.

Having said, however, there are another group of people who are strongly against such improvements in medical technology and critical about what research findings show. The arguments are that newer drugs or procedures do not offer substantial advantage over the so-called obsolete and less effective measures to cure diseases. Some of such newer findings may cause undesirable effects, incur high costs for no marginal benefit or create false impressions that fuel more of such vicious cycles. The opponents are generally proposing to slow down the advancement in research and saying that focusing on current developments and educating the public is in fact more feasible and less harmful.

For everyone reading this post of mine, I h0pe this short introduction had set you re-thinking on the health checkups you had, the drugs you have taken in the past or the articles that presented new medical findings you have read. Are they really there for a beneficial cause or do you firmly believe that the majority of doctors and researchers out there are doing all for the sake of mankind. Hope my text have been clear enough and I would be glad to receive comments or suggestions about this topic. =)