A 6 year old boy finds himself helplessly floating away on an experimental balloon made of foil over Northern Colorado. Authorities have been notified of the incident and are currently tracking the home-built balloon which if not addressed can reportedly rise to as much as 10,000 feet.

The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer is covered in foil and filled with helium. It has a compartment for a passenger underneath. It lifted the boy into the air near Fort Collins Thursday morning after the balloon became untethered at the boy’s home.

Airtracker 7 located the craft at 12:35 p.m. at about 8,000 feet in Weld County. It appeared to be slightly tilted. You can watch the video here.

(Source) CNN

CNN.com recently did an article on this topic, because it seems that a Spanish mom, Maria Del Carmen Brousada, died recently at age 69…after using reproductive technology (in vitro fertilization and a donor egg) to conceive and bear twin boys just 3 years ago…boys who are now preschoolers with no mommy.

The fertility community doesn’t always  agree on the benefits and drawbacks of having a child so late in life.  Most of the time, doctors and other fertility professionals draw the line at 55, but that’s kind of arbitrary and there are no laws to enforce it.   And frankly sometimes women lie about their age, as Senora Broussard did.  Fertility specialists usually take a hands-off approach to judging the morality of the situation–if you want a baby and the medical procedures work, there’s no reason for them to forbid it just because you’re older than the typical mother or father.

There are also some benefits that older parents have, that younger parents may not.  Older parents tend to have been in a stable marriage for a long time, and they tend to be more financially stable than younger couples are.  And a huge percentage of people the age of grandparents, in their 50′s, 60′s and 70′s, are already raising their grandchildren, so why not their own child?

But many people are concerned about the problems facing families with older parents.  The one that comes to mind immediately is the problem faced by Senora Broussard’s children–older parents are closer to natural death, and what will become of children who lose their mother or father at such a young age?  Obviously, anyone can die unexpectedly,  but the older one gets, the less unexpected death is.

There are other issues, too.  The sheer energy level required to parent infants and toddlers comes to mind.  I’m in my 30′s and sometimes find it’s beyond me, and if late nights and sleeplessness are hard now, how hard will they be for someone in her 60′s?

So much of the new reproductive technology is incredibly positive for people trying to create or care for a tiny new life.  But just because we can do something doesn’t necessarily mean we should.  At the very least, we need more standardization and a lot more ethical debate about this subject.