Potatoes became a staple crop in Ireland because they are high in protein, vitamin and complex carbohydrates. This made the Irish population grow tremendously. From 1780 to 1840, the Irish population doubled from 4 million to 8 million. The regular Irish peasant ate from eight to 14 pounds of potatoes every day. Then the potato blight hit caused by the pathogen Phytophthora infestans and wiped out the potatoes quickly. The leaves all turned black and the stems, roots and tubers blackened from rot. The blight originated in the remote Mexican valley and spread throughout Western Europe in 1845. The potatoes that were resistant to the blight were later used in producing new potatoes that were resistant to the blight.

Now we have genetically altered food using Talen or Crispr. Talen is a restriction enzyme that can be engineered to cut specific sequences of DNA. Crispr are segments of prokaryotic DNA sequencing that are used for gene removal or addition. GMO stand for genetically modified organism which are created through laboratory process where genes from the DNA of a species is put into the genes of another. Often when people hear the word GMOs they are quick to reject it. Within 9 years after GMOs were introduced the percentage of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses jumped from 7% to 13% but there is no evidence that is linked to GMOs. Research across the world indicated that there was no relation between GMOs and mutations in our genes. Fertility, pregnancy and offspring are unaffected by GMOs. Organ health and function was also unaffected.

Smallpox is a dangerous and debilitating disease that is known for the small pockes full of puss. Smallpox used to be the major killer of babies. Smallpox is transmitted through face to face contact, body fluids, scabs, contaminated objects, and airborne transmission. Even if someone survived this disease they were covered in scars afterward. This disease swept over the entire world and killed hundreds of millions of people over the centuries. In just the 20^th century by itself it caused the death of about 300 million people. In living in an area of a smallpox epidemic it would be normal to see the disease in almost everyone. The only thing left to do is to pray that you don’t die from the disease yourself. I can imagine there was a lot of fear during this time not knowing who was going to die next.

During that time, they had very primitive healing techniques because they didn’t understand how the disease worked such as bloodletting, leeches, fasting, laxatives, purgatives, diuretics, sweat therapy, and cold therapy. A lot of these “treatments” ended up hurting the patient instead of helping them. The first person to create a real vaccination for this disease was Edward Jenner. He used the infection of cow pox to use as a vaccine for smallpox. After that it became widespread to everyone. Even the possibility to a cure to this dangerous disease made it worth getting. The vaccine was distributed through orphans to carry it around from place to place.

The objections were that it interfered with Gods plan, smallpox reduces the poor population, and they didn’t know how safe the vaccine was. Vaccines became the better choice due to the prevention of bloodborne illnesses. The World Health Organization started a global effort in eradicating the disease through international reports. They also used selective control to prevent mass contamination. Problems with this include adverse reaction to the vaccine and being able to find those people contaminated before they contaminated anyone else. Eventually the disease was completely eradicated globally.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that causes ulcers, rashes, and even death if not treated. Patients look to doctors to cure them of illnesses they are unable to cure themselves. When a patient comes to a doctor the patient is putting his/her life into their hands. So, when a doctor does something or doesn’t do something to help that patient, it leaves mistrust between the relationship of doctor and patient. In the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Guatamala venereal disease study the doctors claimed they were helping them when instead they were doing nothing for them. Even if it was for the sake of research patients have every right to know what is going on.

The rational behind the neglect of the African Americans was to see how syphilis progressed through the body. After this experiment the amount of mistrust among the African American population regarding doctors spiked. Poorly conducted experiments like this one could potentially affect other patient’s willingness to join these types of experiments and it also could create a distrust in the medical profession in general.