Difference between revisions of "Team:Vilnius-Lithuania/HumanPractices/Ethics"
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<h3 class="text-heading">Ethics</h3> | <h3 class="text-heading">Ethics</h3> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <blockquote class="blockquote-reverse"> | ||
+ | <p>Knowledge is power…<br /> | ||
+ | Knowledge is happiness</p> | ||
+ | <footer><cite>Thomas Jefferson, 1817</cite></footer> | ||
+ | </blockquote> | ||
<p class="text-justify">Our society is on the edge of a new age – genetical engineering age. Every experiment takes us one step further to the future. Biotechnology comes this fast, that we could call it a scientific revolution, aiming to solve many fundamental problems, such as various diseases (cancer, tuberculosis, AIDS, others), aiming to construct new biological design for a number of appliances, aiming to create a pathway to a better, novel kind of living. Revolutions in science happen everyday, but they do not come easily. Genetical engineering is not an exception.</p> | <p class="text-justify">Our society is on the edge of a new age – genetical engineering age. Every experiment takes us one step further to the future. Biotechnology comes this fast, that we could call it a scientific revolution, aiming to solve many fundamental problems, such as various diseases (cancer, tuberculosis, AIDS, others), aiming to construct new biological design for a number of appliances, aiming to create a pathway to a better, novel kind of living. Revolutions in science happen everyday, but they do not come easily. Genetical engineering is not an exception.</p> | ||
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− | [[File:Vilnius15_pirmas.png |800px|thumb|<strong>Table 1.</strong>"What is GMO?" answer results|center]] | + | [[File:Vilnius15_pirmas.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Table 1.</strong>"What is GMO?" answer results|center]] |
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− | [[File:Vilnius15_antras.png |800px|thumb|<strong>Table 2.</strong> GMO used for food|center]] | + | [[File:Vilnius15_antras.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Table 2.</strong> GMO used for food|center]] |
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− | [[File:Vilnius15_trecias.png |800px|thumb|<strong>Table 3.</strong>|center]] | + | [[File:Vilnius15_trecias.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Table 3.</strong> GMO used not for food |center]] |
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<p class="text-justify">Let's move on. This time respondents were asked to check if they agree on using GM for food or using GMO non-food produced materials. They rated the acceptance on scale from 1 (which stands for no, I do not agree) to 5 (which stands for yes, I do agree). The answers were surprisingly positive. On average people would use GM food by the satisfaction number of 3.26, and GM non-food products with a little bit higher value of 3.49. Based on this data, we can claim that most of the society or at least half of it accepts the GM technology and advantage of them. But this smaller half is screaming loudly and forms the well-known opinion: people do not accept the GMOs. Furthermore – there is still a need for education to take a role. Even if those people are OK with GM products, they still do not have enough information to answer the other questions in this survey. </p> | <p class="text-justify">Let's move on. This time respondents were asked to check if they agree on using GM for food or using GMO non-food produced materials. They rated the acceptance on scale from 1 (which stands for no, I do not agree) to 5 (which stands for yes, I do agree). The answers were surprisingly positive. On average people would use GM food by the satisfaction number of 3.26, and GM non-food products with a little bit higher value of 3.49. Based on this data, we can claim that most of the society or at least half of it accepts the GM technology and advantage of them. But this smaller half is screaming loudly and forms the well-known opinion: people do not accept the GMOs. Furthermore – there is still a need for education to take a role. Even if those people are OK with GM products, they still do not have enough information to answer the other questions in this survey. </p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </html> | ||
+ | [[File:Vilnius15_ketvirtas.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Diagram 1</strong> Do you agree on using GM food?|center]] | ||
+ | <html> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </html> | ||
+ | [[File:Vilnius15_penktas.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Diagram 2</strong> Will you use non-food GM?|center]] | ||
+ | <html> | ||
<p class="text-justify">The next part in a survey was the most interesting and creative. People were asked to express the biggest fear of GMO they have. Among a lot of answers (this time almost every respondent had something to share) these ones were the most common and the others – the most “stunning”. </p> | <p class="text-justify">The next part in a survey was the most interesting and creative. People were asked to express the biggest fear of GMO they have. Among a lot of answers (this time almost every respondent had something to share) these ones were the most common and the others – the most “stunning”. </p> | ||
<p class="text-justify"> In a section “others” there were answers such as the lack of information, zombies or several times: the organisms with enhanced abilities will take over the world. Other groups were very equally shared among respondents. These 3 groups are: the spread of GMOs in the environment, unknown long-lasting effect for the offspring in the future and, finally, harm for the human health, such as cancer, gene mutations or imbalance of hormones or allergies for children. And we are happy to help to deal with the half of respondents fears: to educate them and to create a control system to handle the spread of GMOs to mother nature.</p> | <p class="text-justify"> In a section “others” there were answers such as the lack of information, zombies or several times: the organisms with enhanced abilities will take over the world. Other groups were very equally shared among respondents. These 3 groups are: the spread of GMOs in the environment, unknown long-lasting effect for the offspring in the future and, finally, harm for the human health, such as cancer, gene mutations or imbalance of hormones or allergies for children. And we are happy to help to deal with the half of respondents fears: to educate them and to create a control system to handle the spread of GMOs to mother nature.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </html> | ||
+ | [[File:Vilnius15_sestas.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Diagram 3</strong> What is your the biggest GMO fear?|center]] | ||
+ | <html> | ||
<p class="text-justify">After indicating their fears and showing the knowledge they have – respondents were asked to draw their attention to the control mechanisms for GMOs. This straightly connected with our project, therefore it was really interesting for us. We grouped their answers into 4 different parts. A lot of them (almost one-third) did not even responded and nearly 40 per cent claimed that they do not know any! This partly indicates why GMO-phobia is such a huge thing. Knowledge about GMOs only reach a certain level, for example, people know what kind of organisms or products can be produced by GMOs. But almost 70 per cent of respondents could not indicate any mechanism to control GMOs. The rest of the answers can be easily grouped into two parts: technical and political solutions. Technical ones included the scientific methods to control them (such as sterilisation) or physical barriers for GM plants. We placed the answers such as laws, various institutions and labelling into political solutions and labelling section. These 2 parts divides the rest of 30 per cents to almost equal parts. This means that science as well as politics are important almost equally for the society to take responsibility of controlling GMOs. This is where we could put our collaboration with Ministry of Environment. We are creating a control mechanism for GM bacteria and they are taking a part in preparation of the main GMOs law, by asking our opinion, as well as some expert groups.</p> | <p class="text-justify">After indicating their fears and showing the knowledge they have – respondents were asked to draw their attention to the control mechanisms for GMOs. This straightly connected with our project, therefore it was really interesting for us. We grouped their answers into 4 different parts. A lot of them (almost one-third) did not even responded and nearly 40 per cent claimed that they do not know any! This partly indicates why GMO-phobia is such a huge thing. Knowledge about GMOs only reach a certain level, for example, people know what kind of organisms or products can be produced by GMOs. But almost 70 per cent of respondents could not indicate any mechanism to control GMOs. The rest of the answers can be easily grouped into two parts: technical and political solutions. Technical ones included the scientific methods to control them (such as sterilisation) or physical barriers for GM plants. We placed the answers such as laws, various institutions and labelling into political solutions and labelling section. These 2 parts divides the rest of 30 per cents to almost equal parts. This means that science as well as politics are important almost equally for the society to take responsibility of controlling GMOs. This is where we could put our collaboration with Ministry of Environment. We are creating a control mechanism for GM bacteria and they are taking a part in preparation of the main GMOs law, by asking our opinion, as well as some expert groups.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </html> | ||
+ | [[File:Vilnius15_septintas.png|800px|thumb|<strong>Diagram 4</strong> Do you know any kind of mechanisms to control GMOs?|center]] | ||
+ | <html> | ||
<p class="text-justify">Following the question about how they are informed about mechanisms to control GMOs, we asked if one would be okay with using GMOs, if there was a control system. As we all know that, there are mechanisms to control them, and lots of them are used in a laboratory – but people are still not well informed. Therefore, our project at the very beginning of brainstorming for an idea was greatly influenced by this opinion of society. They need to have at least some control mechanisms near them, to make sure that they exists and they are effective. So as expected, most of the respondents agreed on that and almost 60 per cent put a tick on “Yes”. </p> | <p class="text-justify">Following the question about how they are informed about mechanisms to control GMOs, we asked if one would be okay with using GMOs, if there was a control system. As we all know that, there are mechanisms to control them, and lots of them are used in a laboratory – but people are still not well informed. Therefore, our project at the very beginning of brainstorming for an idea was greatly influenced by this opinion of society. They need to have at least some control mechanisms near them, to make sure that they exists and they are effective. So as expected, most of the respondents agreed on that and almost 60 per cent put a tick on “Yes”. </p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | </html> | ||
+ | [[File:Vilnius15_astuntas.jpeg|800px|thumb|<strong>Diagram 5</strong> If there would be a system for a control of GMOs in the environment, would you agree on that?|center]] | ||
+ | <html> | ||
<p class="text-justify">Finally, we wanted to know who were the respondents and what kind of education they have. We kindly pleased our colleagues (people from the field of genetical engineering) not to actively involve in this survey. The people with at least BSc in Life sciences usually have the same opinion and know a lot of GMOs. We were particularly interested in ones that do not have this biotechnology background. Though the gender factor is usually not the crucial one in having opinion on GMOs, we are happy to have almost the same number of males and females. The fact that the most respondents were in a group of 18-35 years explains why this survey was quite surprisingly neutral and people were not possessed with GMO-phobia. It would be more interesting to gain the data from elder people, who are not familiar with the latest technologies and they are still working in our Parliament and ministries. This is the feedback we got from the department of GMO and environment control. This is why we will continue on educating not only the pupils in schools ( the results of survey prepared especially for them you can find <a class="clink" href=“https://2015.igem.org/Team:Vilnius-Lithuania/HumanPractices/Education”>here</a>), but as well with members of groups who are accepting the laws and rules not only in Lithuania, but also internationally. </p> | <p class="text-justify">Finally, we wanted to know who were the respondents and what kind of education they have. We kindly pleased our colleagues (people from the field of genetical engineering) not to actively involve in this survey. The people with at least BSc in Life sciences usually have the same opinion and know a lot of GMOs. We were particularly interested in ones that do not have this biotechnology background. Though the gender factor is usually not the crucial one in having opinion on GMOs, we are happy to have almost the same number of males and females. The fact that the most respondents were in a group of 18-35 years explains why this survey was quite surprisingly neutral and people were not possessed with GMO-phobia. It would be more interesting to gain the data from elder people, who are not familiar with the latest technologies and they are still working in our Parliament and ministries. This is the feedback we got from the department of GMO and environment control. This is why we will continue on educating not only the pupils in schools ( the results of survey prepared especially for them you can find <a class="clink" href=“https://2015.igem.org/Team:Vilnius-Lithuania/HumanPractices/Education”>here</a>), but as well with members of groups who are accepting the laws and rules not only in Lithuania, but also internationally. </p> | ||
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+ | [[File:Vilnius15_devintas.png|290px|thumb|What is your gender?]] | ||
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+ | [[File:Vilnius15_desimtas.png|290px|thumb|What is your age?]] | ||
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+ | [[File:Vilnius15_vienuoliktas.png|290px|thumb|Social status]] | ||
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Revision as of 03:30, 19 September 2015