Tag Archives: stem cells cloning

Pro-life Candidates in Pennsylvania

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Regardless of one's take on the presidential election, there are other important posts up for election this November, including the race for senator, where pro-lifers are running. In the case of the Senate, Jim Clymer is running for Spectre's seat, and I will gladly vote for him over one of the biggest advocates for embryonic research anywhere in the federal government.

For a pdf list of pro-life candidates that LifePAC vetted, click here. You can print out a copy and bring it with you to the ballot if you have trouble with remembering some of the local politicians' names. If you cannot read the pdf, go to the LifePAC homepage, and look at the html list.

Go Clymer!

Burying the Truth

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Once again, I feel compelled to tell you all about a serious mistake in logic and ethics that one of my favorite bands, Brother, has made. You may recall that I have thrice (here, here, and here) pointed to their "Concert for Cures" tour. Well, they now have a whole page dedicated to it, and it's full of misconceptions and misinformation. Let's flood them with corrections.

"'If, as the scientific community agrees, there's a real chance to cure not just diabetes, but Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal injury, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis…and the list goes on, then let's get serious and bring it on', says Richardson. 'And let's not drive stem cell research underground by leaving it to private companies to fund. Let's give scientists in our public institutions the resources they need to make the breakthroughs the world so desperately needs.'"

First, be clear about scope. Are we talking about stem cells in general, or embryonic stem cells in particular? Next, define "real chance". Last I checked, embryonic stem cells haven't done squat and adult stem cells have been showing promising results. Lastly, stop begging the question. This is not merely a matter of whether we support scientific progress or not. It's about whether we want progress at any moral or ethical cost.

Up, Up, and Away

1 Reply

Christopher
Reeve
September
25, 1952-October 10, 2004

I didn’t agree with his stance on ESCR, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to someday
see that spinal injuries are repairable. In fact, I very much wanted to see his
spine be restored. I watched his progress with amazement. His recovery by far surpassed
the doctor’s expectations. I was really rooting for him to regain some feeling or
use in his limbs. He struggle was inspirational. God bless you and may you rest
in peace, Superman.

Anybody Game?

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I am here today to go on the record with my bewilderment with opponents of embryonic stem cell research.

Here’s how I understand stem cell research: Fertilize an egg and let it divide a few times. Take the resulting clump of cells and use them to see what kinds of tissues you can grow on command. Repeat until you get something useful. Put cotton in your ears while Christians scream at you for being a genocidal maniac.

So who wants to respond to this?

Sacrilege and Medical Science

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Fabian of Report from Greater Tokyo has responded to Jerry's stem cell primer.

"On the medical science issue, once upon a time, it was considered sacriligious to cut open a human corpse. Early doctors' methods were notoriously unreliable, and early post-mortems were unlikely to either find the exact cause of death or provide immediately useful data for medical research.

However, although no one knew exactly how that research might be beneficial in the future, we know now that it was invaluable to almost every modern surgical technique.

Similarly, although we don't yet know which way stem cell research may take medical science, and we don't even know of any specific benefits, but it seems reasonable to believe that there will be some tangible medical benefit in the future. If the anti-stem cell research people had won back then, modern medical surgery would still be at the amputate and cauterize stage. Stuff as basic as resetting a broken bone would be life-threatening, and almost certainly result in long term problems.

Comments? Criticisms? My gut reaction is to say that cutting open a corpse is not the same as destroying a living creature. Whether killing that creature is killing a person or not is a matter for debate, but that a living thing is killed is not."

Thoughts?