Stem Cell Debate Defused?
By Dyre42 | Related entries in Abortion, ScienceFrom the NY Times:
Two teams of scientists reported yesterday that they had turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without having to make or destroy an embryo — a feat that could quell the ethical debate troubling the field.
All they had to do, the scientists said, was add four genes. The genes reprogrammed the chromosomes of the skin cells, making the cells into blank slates that should be able to turn into any of the 220 cell types of the human body, be it heart, brain, blood or bone. Until now, the only way to get such human universal cells was to pluck them from a human embryo several days after fertilization, destroying the embryo in the process.
The need to destroy embryos has made stem cell research one of the most divisive issues in American politics, pitting President Bush against prominent Republicans like Nancy Reagan, and patient advocates who hoped that stem cells could cure diseases like Alzheimer’s. The new studies could defuse the issue as a presidential election nears.
I for one am glad to see the ethical ramifications of this laid to rest. I however never saw it in that light. My support for stem research is similar to my support for first trimester abortion. In developed nations 25% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage and 33% of all pregnancies in third world nations. To me that means either one of two things either individuality isn’t imparted by the divine until after the first trimester or that the creator is capricious and cruel. Given the choice between the two I chose to believe the former. Hence for me this has always been a political issue with the right opposing stem cell research in order to curry favor with its base and the left doing the same. Fortunately for those who have loved ones whose well being seemed to be hanging on the outcome of this debate the passion play may very well be over.
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November 21st, 2007 at 1:33 am
This is indeed an encouraging development. I’m not jumping to assume it will end the objections of religious-right types just yet, though. Time will tell.
Regarding miscarriages and spontaneous abortions. These often come about because the embryo or fetus is seriously abnormal or because the womb isn’t right in some way for continuing the pregnancy.
This seems to be nature’s way of sparing young families from being burdened with seriously defective offspring. Caring for a severely abnormal child is difficult and expensive now. A million years ago, when people had to hunt, fish or forage for every bite of food to stay alive, it could be a burden that threatened the family’s survival. That’s especially so if a family or tribe had several such children.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:18 am
I’m sorry, but you are incorrect. The United States constitution clearly decrees that human individuality is imparted into the foetus when it is “viable outside the womb, albeit with medical attention.” It is also clear that this is defined as the third trimester. So says the Black-Robed Ones who decided “Roe vs. Wade.” I’m sorry, but you don’t get to vote on this, unless you can convince a supermajority of congress, as well as all state legislatures and governors to repeal the 4th amendment of the Constitution.
Yes, and through the inginuity of human intellect, we now have the technology to catch those mistakes that nature allows to slip through the cracks. Downs syndrome, dwarfism, and cleft-palletes are swiftly becoming a thing of the past thanks to eugenic abortions. Even homosexuality can be detected in early stages (prior to individuality being imparted, of course), and can now be treated with hormones taken by the soon-to-be mother, eliminating the condition from human society alltogether.
We can even screen for genetically superior embryos to implant into the wealthy, who can afford the procedure, so that we can create a new class of genetically superior humans that will inevitably rise to the upper echelons of society. We will even be able to customize our “potential” child’s genome with desired characteristics (if you can afford it, of course).
Hail to the The Black-Robed Ones who reveal to us the voice of the devine and grant us the power to achieve this brave new world.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:20 am
You mean the state of most of humanity in Africa and, in fact, the entire history of humanity complete with its atrocities, cruelties, indignities, genocide, starvation, plagues, wars, turmoil, treachery, deceit, natural distasters, exc. aren’t (when filtered through your honed lense of reason) enough to draw you to the inevitable conclusion of Satre, “God doesn’t exist! The bastard!”
November 21st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Dyre42 and Dos both seem to bypass, maybe too conveniently, the possibility God set things in motion in such a way that mankind could make its existence a relative heaven or hell, depending on attitude and behavior. Set in motion, as opposed to micromanaging everything.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Is this the “clockmaker” thing SW? Jeffersonian pillow-talk I say, a bunch of colonial rabble trying to get laid.