Radiolab Episode Colors

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In the Radiolab episode “Colors,” Adam Cole hosts Jay Neitz, a neurologist and color vision researcher at the University of Washington, to discuss colorblindness in primates and humans. Neitz hypothesizes that the test they used to cure colorblindness in squirrel monkeys could also cure the same disorder in humans. Colorblindness is a genetic disorder that causes the cones in the eye to perceive colors differently. In the back of the eye lies the retina that holds three photoreceptor cells called cones. Each cone is sensitive to either red, green, or blue and when functional, allows the brain to process the different wavelengths of color. Humans and some primates have two genes on the X Chromosome that encodes visual pigments, one holds green …show more content…

Whether or not the test would succeed among humans is unknown because the test has not been conducted on any human. Legally, states biomedical engineering student at the University of Rhode Island Mary Ellen Sweeney, “in order for human testing to commence, this gene therapy and specific process must be passed, (reviewed and approved), by the NIH, ORDA/RAC, and the FDA” (Sweeney 1). However, if the AAV test is deemed ethical or not, then there does or does not exist a cure that replaces functional genes inside cone cells that eliminates colorblindness. Although, there are consequences of this treatment being ethical and that includes a bias towards test subjects who failed to see color after the injection. In addition, there would be a bias towards those who opt out of receiving the treatment. These negatives biases divide those who perceive colors correctly and those who misinterpret colors, emphasizing an anomalous error in humans with colorblindness. If the test was deemed unethical, the consequences would include a continuation of scientific research to determine a

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