Summary of roundtable discussion

Group1:
Group1 discussed about the advantages and disadvantages of biodiesel, a green and renewable energy that is made from soya bean. The supporting party stated that biodiesel could benefit mankind in many ways. For example, it is renewable and safe; in addition, it will not produce much pollution to the environment.

However, the opposing party argued that biodiesel was not suitable to be used in cold weather due to the fact that its high freezing point might clog the car engines. They also pointed out that biodiesel was impossible for countries such as Singapore that does not have environment condition to grow crops. The argument was rebutted by the supporting party as they argued that Singapore could buy from other counties.

Biodiesel will become a good replacement of diesel fuel if it gets support from the government and it is believed that more policies will come out regarding this issue.

Group2:
Group2 touched the topic of whether Singapore is suitable for green chemistry deployment.

The supporting party claimed that green chemistry is renewable and pollution-free. Moreover, green chemistry could be more efficiently manufactured compared to normal plastic that is used in our daily life now.

But the opposing party argued that green chemistry may be toxic to human. Also, it is a very expensive technology which will increase the cost of plastic production. In short, it will depend on Singapore government to decide whether to implement it or not.

Group3:
Group3’s discussion was about genetic engineering and whether government should allow parents to choose their baby’s gene.

The supporting party said that everyone has the right to choose what kind of baby they want to have in the future. However, the opposing party argued that every baby also has the right to decide what kind of person or what gender they want for themselves. If the parents get to decide the gene of their baby, the baby may be forced to accept something that they might not like. The supporting party rebutted by saying that gene selection could also prevent baby from having deadly diseases. The opposing party argued that other unknown disease may appear due to the change of gene. All in all, we need to be extremely cautious when it comes to genetic engineering and we must always bear in mind that we don’t want to create people, instead, we want to make people’s life become better.