The Kissinger Report National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200) or the Kissinger Report was directed by Henry Kissinger. In this report, thirteen nations were mentioned as particularly problematic with respect to the United States security interest because these countries are projected to create 47% of all world population growth; one of these countries includes our own, the Philippines. The document identified 13 nations by name that would be primary targets of U.S.-funded population control efforts. I find the document, if really true, very disturbing and alarming. I cannot imagine the world to be controlled by such a selfish policy. One should never coerce somebody for their own benefit. It is in disagreement with the morals of the society. The view, where the ends should not justify the means could also be applied. Exploiting one country in lieu of achieving one’s selfish desire was immoral and not a right thing to do. What is more threatening are the elements of how to implement such population control which includes abortion being legal, giving of financial incentives to those who will participate actively, indoctrination of children and with holding of aids during disaster. This has been a report that has been dead for decades now. This document, which is completely devoid of morality or ethics, has directly and inevitably encouraged atrocities and massive human rights violations in dozens of the nations of the world. The ideal family size should be put in the hands of the couples, not by the government. As a health care professional, I want to advocate voluntary and informed family planning where the reproductive rights of women and men are respected. With great power comes great responsibility, if we want the population be controlled, I still believe in the power of democracy, not forcing people to embrace change by coercion. Informed choice, never coercion should be advocated.
“The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women” by Barbara Seaman In The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed Upon Women, Seaman presents a wealth of evidence of the misuse and misunderstanding of the role of estrogen in a woman's body over her lifespan. Seaman places the blame for what she calls the "dirty secrets" of estrogen's history on drug manufacturers and doctors who recommended hormone products for what they "hope or believe they can do, not for what they know the products can do,”. She believed that those millions of women who have taken estrogen over the years have been used as lab animals. It emphasizes further that these drug companies are reckless and greedy; the media are complicit; the patients are dupes. Extensive and detailed descriptions of the experiments done by the Nazis upon women in concentration camps, easily leading the reader to infer that what was being done to women in the U.S. in the 20th century was not much different. As skeptical and confused that I was, Seaman’s book did not convince me that all women should swear off estrogen products entirely. I strongly believe that estrogen is clearly not the only drug that was put on the market before its benefits and dangers were known to an absolute certainty. However, a lot of ethical principles has been violated that which include principles of non-maleficence, respect for person and the principle of double effect. As a future physician, I believe that patients’ rights should be on top priority over our own motives. We have oath to offer the best care for the benefit of our patients. In the book, numerous studies have shown that taking these pills containing hormones proved to be carcinogenic and yet drug companies continue to manufacture, distribute, advertise, and pay physicians to recommend their products to the patients. We need to be a thinking physician, not just blindly prescribing drugs which can affect the quality of life our patient may be having in the future. It is my duty to provide better quality of life to my patients and not bring them irrevocable hardships later in life.
VACTRUTH “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” -------Neil deGrasse Tyson The world greets newborn babies by bombarding them with everything from dust to disease-causing microbes. Babies can deftly parry exposures to certain harmful substances, thanks to antibodies passed onto them in the womb. But this kind of inherited immunity is short-lived, so a child must develop her own immune system response to combat lifethreatening diseases. That’s where vaccines come into picture. Visiting the website, I was welcomed with their tag line – Get informed. There is also vaccine schedule, vaccine insert and news.
In the vaccine schedule, it displayed a table
discussing how frequent a child will receive a vaccine totalling of about 118 vaccines. As a health care provider and a mother myself, I was left with two option: refusal to acknowledge the safety and effectiveness of vaccines or acknowledge that vaccines are not perfect. Vaccines aren’t perfect, they likely never will be, but when we let the evidence and facts guide us we can come to no other conclusion than to equivocally state that the benefits of vaccines, far, far, far outweigh the risks. Another thing that I have also observed is that majority of their news are not published by reputable medical journals. It was taught in schools that research is a complex process, however, majority of the people would settle to look for the truth in these kinds of websites. We need to examine the evidence provided for us by this information giving website. We should never believe all the things we read from the internet. We should do our own research. We live in a world, where almost everything is a work in progress. There are still so much to know.
Reaction Paper On Medical Ethics
By:
Adlyn Bea A. Bernaldez
March 9, 2015