Religion: Environmental and Medical issues

Pollution - The contamination/degradation of the environment.

Greenhouse Effect - The trapping of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is thought to increase the earth's temperature.

Acid Rain - Pollutants such as coal smoke, which make rain more acidic.

Natural Resources - naturally occurring material such as oil and fertile land which can be used by humans.

Stewardship - looking after something so that it can be passed on to the next generation.

Environment - The surroundings in which plants and animals live an which they depend on to continue living.

Conservation - Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment.

Creation - The act of creating the universe, or the universe which has been created.

Artificial Insemination - Injecting semen into the uterus by artificial means.

Embryo - A fertilized egg in first 8 weeks after conception.

Infertility - Not being able to have children.

In-vitro Fertilization (IVF) - The method of fertilizing an egg in a test tube.

Artificial Insemination by Husband (AIH) - when the husband's sperm is inserted into his wife by artificial means.

Surrogacy - An arrangement whereby a woman bears a child on behalf of another women OR where an egg is donated and fertilized by the husband through IVF and then implanted into the wife's uterus.

Organ Donation - Giving organs to be used in transplant surgery.

Humans cause much pollution and this pollution is dangerous. This is disturbing the earth's ecosystem.

Burning fuels such as oil,coal and gas cause the greenhouse effect. Which scientists believe is raising the earth's temperature.

Using fertilizers and cutting down trees is causing eutrophication which increases the growth of plants in ponds and rivers, killing fish and making water poisonous.

People cut down trees for fuel and to make farmland. This deforestation causes soils, erosion, desertification and possibly lack of oxygen.

The use of nuclear power is producing waste which will be dangerous for thousands of years.

Problem - Many things we use come from non-renewable resources, e.g. plastics, nylon etc come from oil; steel; tin; aluminium come from metal ores. These resources will eventually disappear which will mean no cars, television etc.

Proper Use - Some scientists think that the problem of resources can solved if they are recycled and/or used more efficiently to give a longer life for the resources. Scientists are also looking for different resources, e.g using sugar can instead of oil to run cars, using wind or water to make electricity. Other people think that we should stop using non-renewable resources such as cotton and wool, and eat organic foods which do not use fertilizers.

10% of couples in the UK have problems with trying to have children.

Advances in medicine have led to many treatments being available.

WHY ARE INFERTILITY TREATMENTS IMPORTANT?

-Infertility is becoming more of a problem in the western world.

-Male fertility problems have increased.

-In 2007, 12% of births were a result of infertility treatments.

-It is human nature to want to have children.

-Couples can have psychological problems if they can not have children and the treatments are a way to stop this happening.

This is using organs from one person to replace defective organs in another. They may be taken from a living person (e.g. kidney transplant) or a dead person (e.g. heart transplant). Advance in medicine have made transplant surgery very effective.

Non-religious arguments in favour:

• It is an effective method of curing life-threatening or disabling diseases.
• It uses organs which would otherwise disappear.
• It allows people to help other people after they die.

Non-religious arguments against :

• It is very expensive and uses lots of medical skill and money on very few people.
• It raises moral problems about when a person dies whether they should try to keep alive someone whose organs can be used.
• It encourages the sale of organs from less developed countries of the west.