Drug to protect against radiation

1. - Citation
Drug to protect to against radiation
BBC News, Thursday April 10th
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7341336.stm
2. - Summary
This article was mainly about a new drug that may help protect against radiation just like the title says. It can help cancer patients and victims of atomic events. It basically helps the good cells in the body live while the radiation attacks the bad cells. The drug only seems to work in bone marrow and the digestive track it leaves tumor cells to be treated by the radiation. It has only been tested on animals, mostly mice and monkeys.
The side effects of this drug are not as simple as headaches, heartburn or indigestion though. The problem with this drug is that it has the potential to protect defective cells, which may turn cancerous later although it hasn’t happened yet. When compared to untreated animals the treated animals survived much longer.
3. – Reaction
a.) The AP World theme that this article relates to is the impact of technology, economics, and demography on people and the environment. I chose this theme because through the advancements of technology and our human minds scientists are now close to creating a cure for cancer, or at least something pretty close.
b.) For many years people have been suffering and dieing from cancer and for many years people have been trying to find a cure. There have been many attempts and much advancement, like exposure to radiation, in treatments for all these illnesses. Many cancer and/or tumor patients now have the option of chemotherapy.
c.) The point of view of the author of this document is obviously an outsider because to be an insider and really know what is going on the author would have to be a scientists working on this new drug. The author is also not an animal rights activist because when they write about the animal testing they show no opinion and use no strong language.
d.) The author’s point of view being fairly neutral affects this information because the neutral viewpoint of the author allows all the facts to show up in the article. The evidence of the author being neutral is that there is no strong or biased language and the article really gives you a chance to know all the facts.
e.) There are basically the scientists’ viewpoints and the author’s. It would be helpful to see pictures of the mice and monkeys that were treaded and were not treated. This would help to confirm the side effects of the drugs. I would also like to hear from the first person that uses the drug. Without knowing how the drug works on humans, there is no way to know how it will affect the world. Many people say that there are many similarities between humans and monkeys or apes or something but they are not exactly the same as humans or they would be called humans. So to know anything for sure I would need to hear from the first humans to be tested.
f.) My personal reaction to this article is fairly exited. I am exited ton be alive when the first cure for a major disease (cancer and tumors) of our time comes available to the public. It is not a very happy topic but I have known some very sick people and believe that their situations of extreme agony can be prevented eventually. Through the course of time people will make advancements and it could all start with this drug. These scientists may find out that all these diseases are linked and there fore may change the drug only a little and then they would be able to find a cure for every disease that came to plague our Earth.