Enhanced Regulations

Maria Kozdroy

11-16-14

Blog #20

Disclaimer: this blog is to be used as a response to class discussion and readings

Enhanced Regulation

            I can guarantee you that there is at least one person in your family or a friend you have that takes Omega-3 fatty acids to improve their health, or some kind of₌ vitamin enhancer.  Many people are using taking these pills to maintain better health and memory, should this mean children should begin taking Omega-3 at a young age with the goal of never having bad health or losing memory?  Will these young students perform better on tests and become so dependent on the pill, that they would not be able to survive without it?  Many children take simple gummy vitamins today as a fruit supplement, but Omega-3 fatty acid pills have much more serious effects and risks associated with them, as they are not just fruit in another form, yet fish and flax seed.  According to Woodhouse in chapter 15 of the STS text, he states that there should be no innovation without representation.”  In this blog post I am going to argue that children should only take the gummy fruit vitamins and not the more serious enhancement pills, as dependence on these pills may cause addiction and the feeling of being better than everyone else—a major misconception.  Scientists and engineers should continue innovating these enhancements as suggested in Woodhouse’s argument; however, have government apply stricter regulations on how these enhancements are obtained.

            Again I will clarify that for the sake of this paper, the gummy fruit vitamins usually in a shape of an animal are safe for children as they are to be taken as an alternative to eating fruit.  On the other hand, Omega-3 pills and any enhancements along the lines of improving memory, etc. are designed to help maintain better health for adults.  If a kid were to start taking fish oil pills at the age of 5, that possibly when they reach being a teenager their body will have fully come addicted to the pill that the only way to achieve normal health would be to stop taking the pill.  The state of health that the teenager would be in over achieves the safe health conditions as stated by government, since their body would forget what the norm of good health even is.  Human engineering is becoming more and more of a growing concern, and may be because of the problem with children developing bad habits of health enhancing pills.  Scientists are coming up with ways how to change a child’s health after affected from enhancements, in order to respond to the environment—the way it had been before relying on the pill each day.  It would be easier if the child does not take the pill at a young age in the first place.  Health enhancements seem to be becoming the norm for older people, as doctors are telling more of their patients the benefits of easily taking one pill a day.  However, adults can take this pill for a longer span of time daily because they tend to begin on a level of “bad” health.  In addition, any enhancements as such should better state that better life health should not depend on taking a pill every day.  Government should step in and force producers to provide this message clearly in packaging and advertising, so that the public consumers understand what they will be getting themselves into, and possibly even their children. 

Imagine if your child began sneaking your Omega-3 pills each day before school, and suddenly began bringing math tests of grades 100 home on a normal basis, when they usually received 80’s on.  The parents should suspect that something is fishy with this (no pun intended!).  Besides the student gaining a high dependence on taking an enhancement to make sure to keep doing well on tests, they would begin to gain a selfish attitude, as they probably brag to his or her classmates of how well they have done on the most recent test.  It is up to the parents to make sure their son or daughter does not sneakily obtain any enhancements that one can purchase easily in a store, and use them in the wrong way.  Yet again, these enhancements are designed to maintain better health up to par with the standard health conditions; perhaps government should force enhancing pills to be prescribed by doctors in order to gain procession of them.

Omega-3 fatty acid pills are intended to be used by adults, and only adults, and only for short time periods at a time.  Doctors and governments should implement new regulations of the use of any “modest enhancements.”  Taking vitamins and other supplements will seem to benefit the physical body of a human, but have a negative effect on the mentality of the consumer, child or adult. 

Works Cited:

Woodhouse, Edward. The Future of Technological Civilization