To be or not to be...ethical?!

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Being in the field of biomedical research, ethical and unethical are the words I hear the most often. The ethics I am talking about are with respect to research of course – viz. plagiarism, authorship, the use of animal and human subjects, and the sorts. We recently had a class on the use of human subjects in biomedical research. This blog is on ethics related to the same.

Have you watched the movie/read the book “My Sister’s Keeper”? For those who have not…let me tell you the story on which this movie and book are based. This is a story of the Nash family which includes a mom, a dad and a sweet girl named Molly– like any other family you may say. But no; this girl was suffering from Fanconi’s anemia. This condition is characterized by short stature, skeletal anomalies, increased incidence of solid tumors and leukemias, bone marrow failure, and sensitivity to DNA damaging agents.

The treatment for Molly was a bone marrow replacement from a sibling. She was the only child of her parents. After hearing about the only treatment option, her parents thought of having more children. They decided not to waste time and create a savior sibling using PGD with HLA typing. (now what is that?? Well PGD stands for Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and HLA stands for Human Leukocyte Antigen.) So well, technique allowed them to “select” a child which would be the donor for their daughter. Mother’s eggs and father’s sperms were collected and several zygotes were created and then using the procedures mentioned above they selected the one that was a perfect match for Molly. This was followed by in vitro fertilization and a perfect little boy, Adam, was born – or rather engineered. The doctors transplanted Adam’s cord blood (from the placenta that was collected after he was born) into Molly. And so brother saved sister and Molly was fine… getting better.

Both the children are doing good now. Well the real life story ended here…but..

Think about it…if Molly would have developed any other complications say for example liver failure/kidney failure etc; and needed a sibling as a donor…

Will her new brother serve as the body part farm again? Will the parents be willing to sacrifice him for her? I mean…true that they engineered Adam to serve the purpose of saving Molly…but after all he is their second child. Is it ethical to create so many embryos to select one from them…and that too for sacrifice? What will happen of the other embryos? Will they be used for the oh-so-hot stem cell research? Scientifically ethical I would say. But..isn’t the beautiful word called ‘reproduction’ being taken for granted? What will Adam think? “If Molly had not been sick, I would not be in this world… Am I just a spare part store for Molly?” Is Adam old enough to give consent to cut off his organs for Molly? Should the parents be emotionally attached to Adam or consider him as just a solution to saving Molly – their original, natural child?

Another case discussion revolved around little Sally who was suffering from something that made her nothing more than a vegetable. To make her life simpler, her parents and the doctors removed her uterus so that she would not menstruate and would be spared of the associated pain. They cut out her breast buds so she would not develop breasts! And all this so that she will not feel awkward in public! Is this ethical? I mean Sally was a girl…a woman after all… The pains associated with a woman make a woman a woman!

These and so many more cases stir me…

When you sacrifice hundreds of embryos to find the right one – aren’t you killing all the other “babies” who could have stepped in this mean mean world – to make it better probably?? This brings up a question – where does life begin? at conception? at implantation? at the first heart beat?? What is life? Is life what fate has in for you? Is it destiny? So, well, I think anything that exists has “life”…even without a beating heart. A chair has life…so I will not kick the chair. A football has life…but it was destined to be a ‘foot’ball and thus can be kicked. It is we humans who decide destiny/fate…right? Or is it divine?

Is it ok to let Sally live even though life for her had no meaning? Or is it ethical to try to make life easy for her by snatching away the woman from within her?? Is euthanasia (mercy killing) ethical?

Is the definition of ethical different from a scientist’s point of view? – from a philosophical point of view? – from a divine point of view?

The Sounds of Silence

It’s been just two days and two nights since I returned to the US from India – my home. And boy do I already miss home? You bet I do!

Last night and the one before that, I could not sleep…some people called it jet lag. But I had slept like a log during the flight…my dad’s advice…”If, instead of wasting time in the flight watching movies, you sleep, you avoid the jet lag”.

What I missed the most at night was, I realized, the sounds of the dark ‘silence’.

Well, at home I sleep in my grandpa’s room. The night talks to me in its own special way. The sound of my grandpa’s clock ticking away and reminding of the passing night; and assuring that it will be day soon. The old songs that play on the radio on the vividhbharti channel till 11:30 pm and which my grandpa oh so religiously listens to.

The sound of the fan lulls me to sleep – I miss this the most as I have become anaerobic living in the closed air conditioned environment in my apartment in the US; and I do miss the slight squeak of the fan that keeps on reminding us that the poor thing needs to be oiled.

The crickets chatting away nineteen-to-the-dozen all through the night – I wonder what they have to gossip about so much? – are worse than us girls eh?

My dad snoring in the adjacent room is a great feeling of security. He snores like a tiger. And you know what??? when I was a kid I used to actually think that a tiger will hear his roar...er...snore and get scared and run away!!

My brother practicing his guitar, strums at night a lullaby of rock music!! He is picking it up really well. And I am his forever guinea pig.

The night watchman with his stick hitting on the road to keep us as well as himself awake is accompanied by the stray dogs – they are so many of them and they are loyal to our locality. They will not allow any other dog to be a part of this locality.

I never wondered how these little things could touch my life so much!!

आई

My very first attempt at a Marathi poem...written 3 years ago..found it in my diary lying in a corner of my cupboard at home...

तू गेलीस ती रात्रा अजूनही दोळ्यान्समोर आहे
माझ्या हातातला तुझा हात कायमच थोर आहे!
खूप काही शिकय्चे होते
खूप काही बोलायचे होते
मनातले गुपीत फक्त तुलाच सांगायचे होते
आठवतायत आपल्या दुपारच्या गप्पा?
तुझ्याच कुशीत मीटायच्या पापण्या हलक्या!
संध्याकाळची टेकडीवरची फेरी
आपल्या गप्पान्नी न्हाऊन नीघाय्ची सारी !
तुझ्या गीतांचे सूर कानावर अजूनही पडतात
तम्बोर्याच्या तारा मधेच ऐकू येतात
त्या पान्ढर्या पडद्यावर उमल्णार्या तुझ्या स्वप्नांच्या छटा
आणी मधेच वळणार्या नाजुक बटा!
खोलीत तुझा सुवास अजूनही दरवळतो
स्वप्नान्मधे तुझा सहवास आढळतो
ओल्या पापणया दमून शेवटी मीटतात
दुःखाने मग स्वप्नेही तुटतात !
तुझ्यामागे धावपळ करताना दिवस कसे उलटले, कळलच नाही...
आणी आता...काहीच नाही ?!
दीवसभर एक नकोशी भीती
मनात्ला एकटेपणा ; असूनही जरी प्रीती

...चैताली

Gestures of love

The measure of love is when you love without measure. I mention here 2 people, who unknowingly have touched my heart. Some people come in our lives and go quickly; some others stay for a while and leave their footprints; and we are never ever the same!

There is this teeny weeny shop just around the corner of my house. An old lady sits there and sells 'Neera' - a very refreshing and healthy drink made from the sap of a palm called 'Maad', and one of my favorite drinks. She sits there all day long (in the summers) and sells Neera for 5 Rs pr 250 ml.
When in Pune, I visit her everyday and drink a minimum of 2 glasses of Neera.
I came back almost after a year and went to her yesterday. She remembered me. She must be having a hoard of tired and grateful customers. But she remembered me.
I had just one glass. She remembered; and said "Tai you came after a long time and had just one glass? You used to come everyday and have atleast 2 glasses."
Somewhere i felt her love - i was a part of her memory. I promised that until i am here, I will visit here everyday and have 2 glasses of Neera.

My dad experienced a similar gesture of love from his barber - whom he has been a loyal customer of since oh so many years.
Dad had forgotten his wallet at home. He was done with the haircut and a rejuvenating face massage - but was awkwardly fishing his pockets for money. He told the barber that he will send the money across the next day. The barber said "No saheb it is ok - you can pay me the next time you come". Till here it was fine. He added "Saheb if you need some money to buy household stuff on the way, I could lend you some"; he said this because he had all the rights on his most loyal customer. He must have realized something and immediately said "Sorry, i hope you did not mind my saying this". Dad reciprocated with the same affection "This is your love and caring that spoke. I loved your gesture".

These and so many others that we may come across everyday are pouring out their love honestly. It is for us to be the receptacle and keep our ego away. Often all it takes is just one person to create friendship.

Hey Aditi! thanx for tagging me!

Eight things I am passionate about:

• Badminton
• Dancing
• Singing
  
• Driving
• Shopping
  
• RNA interference
  
• killing cancer
  
• family

Eight things I want to do before I die:

• be the CEO of a pharmaceutical/biotech company
  
• Complete SPB with SDIPA that I left and went to the US
  
• Visit every country in the world
• Learn to cook as many cuisines that I can
• experience all adventure sports
  
• own a home with a glass roof
  
• visit Antarctica
  
• make the world a better place to live in
  

Eight things I say often:

• O Really??
  
• Ahan
• Right
• Puhleeez
• Balach
• Bhaari
• Cool
• Kuch bhi haan
  

Eight books I have recently read:

• Shantaram
• The Turning Angel
  
• Sacred Space
  
• The 3 mistakes of my life
  
• Freakonomics
  
• Coma
• Marker
• Shock
  

Eight things that attract me to my best friends:

• Transparency
• Creativity of any kind
• Sense of Humor
• Intelligence
• Benevolence
• Mischievousness, Naughtiness
• Adventure
  
• Talkativity
  

a face unchanged...

It’s been over a week since I am back home in Pune, India. I have come for vacations after a 9-month stay in the USA.
I am desperately looking for changes…in spite of knowing that nothing really changes in a year. But some things have changed and some are still the same. The ones that have changed are the obvious ones…the big malls, the roads, etc. The inconspicuous have remained inconspicuous.

I was riding my kinetic through the busiest road in my area..the Senapati Bapat Road. I saw around…
The busy road has become busier; there are more people, more cars, faster cars, and better cars…what with an Audi showroom on the road. The Piramyds mall has been taken over by the India Bulls mart and so is TruMart. There is now a Pune Central at a 10-minute distance from my home. Well..my home itself has been renovated.
There are flyovers running across the city. The Pune Muncipal Corporation has started building cement roads on the tar ones… due to some sudden enlightenment.

However, as inconspicuous as the corner where he sits is…he too has remained inconspicuous – without an iota of change in him. I am talking about the guy who sits at the signal on this busy road – he paints number plates – from black to white and vice versa.
He still sits in the same place, on the same piece of furniture, with the same board to advertise his job that saves people that have ignored the number plate rule…and ofcourse with the same expression on his face. Be it a bright sunny day or a dull rainy day… he sits there with his paraphernalia.
This is just an example…just something that I spotted on a busy day on a busy road.
A year made no change in his life. Well yes just that his customers probably changed their cars.

My life changed in a year…in several aspects. Then why not his? It probably did…we did not see…we did not realize…he kept his change to himself.

The healing touch...

Ever wondered that if you had immense faith and belief, your touch could actually heal someone? I marveled at the fact that it was possible to have a healing touch...and now I feel lucky to possess one.
I start with asking the receiver to think positive and have complete faith in my touch. I pray "hey adi shakti reiki; please help me; protect me; guide me." And as I pray, I invoke the positivity, the energy, the Reiki to flow through me. I become a channel for the energy to flow from the universe through me to the other body.
As I touch, I transfer this energy. I feel positive, I feel at peace.

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is channeled by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an invisible energy flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy." While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. It has no dogma.

The way to experience Reiki is to be still. It is a process of meditation. For the inflow to be unobstructed, the receptacle must be made empty. If there is inward turmoil, ego, personal agendas, negative emotions, distracted thoughts and doubt, Reiki will be neutralized.

This treatment feels like a wonderful glowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and wellbeing. Reiki awakens a pure feeling and lets it flow with abundance.