Potential

Importance of
cultural pathways
for human health
KOLIMLIM, MARIENNE SD.
• Evidence from other aspects of human health research suggests that biodiversity loss might
impact upon health via cultural pathways.
• Biodiversity loss can destabilize ecosystems, promote outbreaks of infectious disease, and
undermine development progress, nutrition security and protection from natural disasters.
• Protecting public health from these risks lies outside of the traditional roles of the health sector.
• We all know that individuals are sensitive to seemingly insignificant psychological stimuli
because of cultural associations.

MEDICAL TREATMENTS – provides a good illustration of: the amount or color of a medication
taken can affect reported health outcomes for both chemically active and placebo drugs.

EXAMPLE: TABLET COLOR CAN AFFECT OUR RESOLVE IN TAKING MEDICATION AND THE
REPORTED HEALTH OUTCOMES.

In western, blue tablets are more effective as depressants, corresponding with the color blue being
culturally associated in the West with calm and quietness, and red tablets having a greater efficacy
as stimulants because of the color red is culturally associated with an energy and an excitement.
• Secondly, there is an evidence that mental health is negatively affected by awareness of environmental
degradation. Several studies have linked drought with increases in mental health illnesses, including
higher levels of depression and self-reported distress.
• Thirdly, numerous studies provides evidence of mental and physical health being positively affected by
contact with natural places.
• 2011-2012 in UK, the average number of visits to natural environments per adult was 65, and more than a
half of a population report visiting at least once per weak.

GENETIC MODIFIED ORGANISMS: SCIENCE, HEALTH AND POLITICS

- Are any living thing that has had its genetic material altered in some way through human scientific
inference.
- Instead, GMOs undergo a form of gene therapy under laboratory conditions whereby segments of DNA
are spliced, rearranged, or remove together.
- Agricultural plants are one of the most, frequently cited examples of genetically modified organisms.

BENEFITS OF GENETIC ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE:

Increased crop yields, reduced costs for food or drug production, reduced need for pesticides. Enhanced
nutrient composition and food quality, resistance to pests and disease, greater food security and medical
benefits to the world’s growing population. (pa bullet po nito thanks)
EXAMPLES OF GMOs RESULTING FROM AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
- Some other applications include the production of nonprotein (bioplastic) or nonindustrial (ornamental plant)
products. A numbers of animals have also been genetically engineered to increase yield and decrease
susceptibility to disease.

EXAMPLE: Salmon have been engineered to grow larger and mature faster, and cattle have been enhanced to
exhibit resistance to mad cow disease (United States Department of Energy, 2007)

• The pharmaceutical industry is another frontier for the use of GMOs, In 1986, human growth hormone was
the first protein pharmaceutical made in plants (Barta et al., 1986), and in 1989, the first antibody was
produced (Hiatt et al., 1989).
• Both research groups used tobacco, which has since dominated the industry as the most intensively studied
and utilized plant species for the expression of foreign genes (Ma et al., 2003).
• As of 2003, several types of antibodies produced in plants had made it to clinical trials. The use of
genetically modified animals has also been indispensable in medical research.
• Transgenic animals are routinely bred to carry human genes, or mutations in specific genes, thus, allowing
the study of the progression and genetic determinants of various diseases.