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How Agent Orange causes cancer
Yeah Jocelyne, all they wanted was to be left alone. And shouldn’t the government have done better tests on their chemicals before poring it into crops of a nation full of innocent people.
It says in the article that Agent Orange was known to cause cancers, than how come the government continued its use.
I was looking up some pictures of victims of Agent Orange and mitochondria and nucleus aside, this chemical is trully capable of some horrific things. Sometimes I wonder there should also be a memorial for the vietcong fighters, they were fighting for freedom, they were not our enemies, they just wanted freedom from foriegn rule.
i agree with what kaston stated. the tumor more than likely knows it is in distress and needs the genes to be switched in order for it to funciton properly.And this is something that i believe will be later researched more detailed.
Yes, that does make sense, and it’s interesting indeed, but it’s so unfortunate that such clever design and precautions could lead to such a disastrous disease. We can only hope that such knowledge helps us to be able to come up with a cure for this. Heh, perhaps it will be one of us, but hopefully it comes sooner.
I believe that the stress may cause the tumor genes to get switched on because the cell may be ‘defective’ now and needs to be destroyed. It may be a self-destruct mechanism that relies on the body to do the destructing. The mechanism doesn’t work very well and it’s very indirect if that is indeed what is happening. Becaues it’s likely that in the history of mankind people haven’t had to deal with dioxin much, this is just an early response and the bodies cells don’t know what to do yet in response.
It is pretty cool that the mitochondria is like its own individual object living inside of the cell. And that the mitochondira can send signals to the cell’s nucleus if there is something wrong. But on the negative side this communication has a really bad effect, which is CANCER, so even though the overall aspect of the mitochondria “communicating” with the nucleus is a really cool concept, I hope my mitochondiras don’t communicate with the nucleus. And on a side note in my many many years of living I have learned that if you mess with the flow of mother nature, she doesn’t like it and that could cause for some really bad juju.
This gives us insight into the evolution of mitochondria. Maybe they did evolve from human cells. Or even if not, they probably became part of the human cells very early. Also, this shows that since they function together, the survival of both the mitochondrial DNA and the nuclear DNA determine our fitness. The reason for the strange response might just be imperfect evolution, where the flaw evolved with another, more beneficial trait than the response is harmful. Basically, the other trait that came with the change outweighed the harmful response. Or perhaps this incompatibility might have been there even since the mitochondria entered our cells , and the presence of the mitochondria itself was more beneficial to our survival and outweighed the incompatibility. More data is needed before a conclusion can be reached.
I don’t see how turning on tumor inducing genes can benefit the cell unless it only happens because of the dioxin which is like an irritant to the cell.
I personally believe that destroying our earth like that is pretty much pointless. Not only are we killing our home but we’re also putting ourselves at risk for genetic defects in our offspring.
Mitochondria and cells go hand in hand. Our cells can’t do much without mitochondria and the same is for the reverse. I think that their relationship may have started out as a sybiotic relationship.
I have never been a fan of defoliants or pesticides. Eutrophication, super bugs (both insect and bacterial), and disease. That’s a pretty bleak future, if you ask me.
I am just as amazed as Ty up there. It is a wonder how we came from a little egg, pretty much a little blob actually, and became what we are with the ability to do what we do just from our genes and cells.
I never knew that our bodies could actually form tumors when stimulated either. I always assumed that they were caused by a bacteria or virus of some sort infecting the cells. Very intersting!!! The body is interesting, everything it does!!
Stephen says good thinking Jocelyn with the whole cells multiply as a way of coping with the stress signal thing. i think that not only stress but other positive and negative feedbacks trigger the body to reproduce more cells. this i believe is a branch of evolution and natural selection in that these cells will be the ones to live and to prosper because they are the ones that are excessively reproducing. 
Stephen out.
I knew a man who’s son fought in Vietnam and to this day is very sick because of Agent Orange. One group of soldiers sprayed the carcinogen into dense forested areas while a few hours later, another group of soldiers marched along and unknowingly walk right into a chemical death trap. This chemical is definitely a quick and effective defoliant, but knowing it is toxic and using it anyway is plain stupid.
First of all the mutualistic relationship between the mitochondria and the nucleus is surprising, but I wish that this wasn’t discovered due to the dioxin induced cells that where formed due to the exposure to Agent Orange. I looked up images of Agent Orange Victims on http://www.google.com , and what came up where unnecessary deformities of a next generation.
To what Jocelyne said, while it would be a good idea to see effects on human before products are used, how would that occur without potentially hurting somebody?
After reading the article and other peoples’ comments, I am reminded of the movie ‘The Mist’ in the sense that scientists trying to progress science faster than they are actually prepared to end up pulling monsters out of another dimension and brutally killing many, many people. While that is a bit extreme, it just shows destruction that could happen in one area, when scientists were just trying to improve something else.
As far as mitochondria goes, I think that that relationship with the nucleus is neat. The self-contained nature of the cell in general-and all the parts remaining in order when disorder is the natural inclination, is pretty neat. Perhaps the tumor is a panic message?
Our bodies and the cells comprising them are truly amazing. It is remarkable that the organelles in our cells can coordinate and comunicate so well together. I was also amazed to learn that the nucleus in our cells can actually switch on tumor inducing genes. I never though that tumors could actually benefit cells even though they do not in this particular case.
You know, I bet you’re on the right track. It makes sense that during a time of stress that the mitochondria would signal the nucleus to divide rapidly in an attempt to perpetuate the cell. Good thinking!
I agree with Jocelyn, that cells multiply as a way of coping with the stress signal. It may be that cells begin to multiply in an attemp to stay alive and pass on genes. The cell realizes that there is an emergency and that the stress may lead to death so it begins to devide as much as possible before death. At the same time, the cell has been activated with tumor-inducing genes. In result, instead of creating last minute healthy cells, the original cell has multiplied many harmful tumor cells.
Perhaps porducing more cells is a way of coping with the stress signals the nucleus recieves from the mitchondria. Maybe the stress signals which would usually be interpreted as something else abnormally intensifies the nuclues’s cell croduction.
I had never known our bodies posessed genes that could actually produce tumors when stimulated. I had always assumed tumors formed on their own as a result of the neglect of a bodily function. There must be an alternate to using this toxin in our cleaning supplies…
I honestly dont know where to begin with the vietnamese…. They had allready finished fighting a war with the french and their own people when all of assuden America makes an unnecessary imperialistic move upon their existence. They never asked for democracy and were happy as a simple republic. Its unfortunate however that in so many ways the conflict in Vietnam between the US had left the vietnamese though not defeated with little left to live for. Cropfailure is the worst of them all. Growing food there is a laborious practice, work that was often blatantly disregarded by our troops.
I agree with Isha. In echange for one thing we take or use in nature there is always the expanse of something else. Like land we use for our homes and mini malls that usually costs the lives and homes of many innocent animals. I think that all cleaning products are harmfull when used at all due to the fact that just by inhaling them we can get sick or injured. Due to this recent discovery I believe that all cleaning products should be tested for their effect on humans.
I think that although it is amazing how technologically far we have come there are always set backs when altering nature. By combining certain chemicals for the use of an agricultural herbicide and defoliant we actually created a destructive cancer. That simple error cost us and the countries exposed to the chemical a great deal, therefore the use of that and any other agent should be vehemently tested as opposed to creating something using it and finding out later about the risks.
i did not see comment as a whole for the article so that’s what i’m doing.
it’s scary that TCDD, a pesticide, was discovered to cause cancer. As time progresses researchers only uncover the truth of pesticides which are pretty much all harmful to humans and animals, we should just stop using them all together and have all organic food. All organisms are similar and anything that kills insects is bound to do harm to us.