Human Embryos from Skin Cells

[PoliSciProf]

Human embryos have been produced from skin cells according to this article from the Washington Post (1/18/08). “This study seems to confirm that human cloning . . . is technically possible,” said Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It does not show that a viable or normal embryonic stem cell line can be derived this way, or that any such cell has ‘therapeutic’ value. It does not answer the ethical or social questions about the mass-production of developing human lives in order to destroy them. . . . It only tells us that these questions are more urgent than ever.”

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011700324.html

Brave New World is getting closer every month.The ethical, moral and legal issues are extrordinarily complex and important. Perhaps a CAF forum devoted to bio-ethics should be established.

 

[mmm1]

A bio-ethics forum is probably a very good idea. Someone started a similar thread in the Secular News forum. I’m surprised there is not more interest or concern about this story. It is SO disturbing on many levels.

The owner of the lab cloned his own twin. He was “amazed” by the whole idea. Then he destroyed the little guy. On the Today show they said we should celebrate the news, but approach it with caution. Go figure.

 

[Newbie2]

I’d be very suspicious about the truth behind this article…:ehh:

 

[mmm1]

How do you mean? Are you doubting that they really cloned a viable embryo? I would have to agree with you, & I know people have lied about this kind of thing so often. But, supposedly they have verified their results with independent labs. I’m hoping you’re right, though. I think our only hope is that they just keep failing with this kind of stuff. They certainly keep trying.

 

[vern_humphrey]

A bio-ethics forum is probably a very good idea. Someone started a similar thread in the Secular News forum. I’m surprised there is not more interest or concern about this story. It is SO disturbing on many levels.

The owner of the lab cloned his own twin. He was “amazed” by the whole idea. Then he destroyed the little guy. On the Today show they said we should celebrate the news, but approach it with caution. Go figure.

One company I worked for had mandatory ethics training. One day, someone asked the ethics instructor, “What makes** you** so much more ethical than the rest of us?”

He hemmed and hawed and finally said, “Well, really I don’t claim to be any more ethical than anyone else.”

“So what qualifies you to teach the rest of us?”

 

[mmm1]

One company I worked for had mandatory ethics training. One day, someone asked the ethics instructor, “What makes** you** so much more ethical than the rest of us?”

He hemmed and hawed and finally said, “Well, really I don’t claim to be any more ethical than anyone else.”

“So what qualifies you to teach the rest of us?”

Me?? Teaching anything? That’s an even scarier concept… (truly, if you knew me you’d understand) But stories like this concern the heck out of me & get me really angry. I have to work on that tendency & keep telling myself, “God is still in charge, God is still in charge”.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Me?? Teaching anything? That’s an even scarier concept… (truly, if you knew me you’d understand) But stories like this concern the heck out of me & get me really angry. I have to work on that tendency & keep telling myself, “God is still in charge, God is still in charge”.

There is a story I can’t tell on this forum, but it concerns someone taking something personally that wasn’t meant that way.

My point is that “ethicists” are really not more qualified to deal with problems in ethics than the rest of us, and certainly not more qualified than the Church.

 

[mmm1]

There is a story I can’t tell on this forum, but it concerns someone taking something personally that wasn’t meant that way.

My point is that “ethicists” are really not more qualified to deal with problems in ethics than the rest of us, and certainly not more qualified than the Church.

Oh, now I’m curious about the story ! No, I’m so timid in real life that for a moment I worried I had ticked you off, but then I saw your wink… After, though, I realized I was disagreeing with you on the organ donation thread, so I hope you’re still not mad .

But, I would just have to say something about bio-ethicists, though. You’re probably right about ethicists, I don’t know much about them. Science & technologies have come so far that most of us can’t keep up with them & understand them. You know how the science is way ahead of the ethics & the legislation & regulations to keep them honest. Biotech companies investing millions to make sure cloning is legal in their states. A woman set up an actual embryo bank in San Antonio a year or 2 ago. She fertilizes embryos from attractive donors, then hopes to sell the embryos to interested couples at prices cheaper than in vitro clinics.

My head swims with this stuff, but some doctors study the science & ethics of this stuff for years. You might have heard of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, www.ncbcenter.org. There is a priest there, Fr. Tad, who is just awesome. He has a PhD in neurosciences from Yale, & he can really digest all this stuff. He advises the Vatican on new techniques & whether they are moral. The website is really interesting, especially a section called “Making Sense of Bio-ethics”.

 

[vern_humphrey]

My head swims with this stuff, but some doctors study the science & ethics of this stuff for years. You might have heard of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, www.ncbcenter.org. There is a priest there, Fr. Tad, who is just awesome. He has a PhD in neurosciences from Yale, & he can really digest all this stuff. He advises the Vatican on new techniques & whether they are moral. The website is really interesting, especially a section called “Making Sense of Bio-ethics”.

I understand Catholic ethicists, and know how the Church sets standards for them.

But we also have a person on these forums who touts the ideas of “ethicist” Peter Singer, who talks about “defective” human beings, and how we can use abortion and euthanasia to “improve the human race.”

 

[mmm1]

I understand Catholic ethicists, and know how the Church sets standards for them.

But we also have a person on these forums who touts the ideas of “ethicist” Peter Singer, who talks about “defective” human beings, and how we can use abortion and euthanasia to “improve the human race.”

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. He sounds like a real gem. Come to think of it, PBS just had a show that was showing a film promoting embryonic stem cell research & cloning. (Sorry I can’t think of the name of it, but it was about a neurologist at a university in Illinois whose daughter was paralyzed. Now he is understandably desperate for a cure for spinal cord injury, but he & the bio-ethicist that works with him were very misleading in the film. I see what you mean about not trusting them just because they have “ethicist” after their name. This bio-ethicist made me fear for the students she was misleading. The bad bio-ethicists are probably even scarier, because it’s hard for the rest of us to catch all their lies, in some cases.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. He sounds like a real gem. Come to think of it, PBS just had a show that was showing a film promoting embryonic stem cell research & cloning. (Sorry I can’t think of the name of it, but it was about a neurologist at a university in Illinois whose daughter was paralyzed. Now he is understandably desperate for a cure for spinal cord injury, but he & the bio-ethicist that works with him were very misleading in the film. I see what you mean about not trusting them just because they have “ethicist” after their name. This bio-ethicist made me fear for the students she was misleading. The bad bio-ethicists are probably even scarier, because it’s hard for the rest of us to catch all their lies, in some cases.

Yes, and as Mark Twain said, “The difference between a cat and a lie is that a cat only has nine lives.”

 

[Newbie2]

How do you mean? Are you doubting that they really cloned a viable embryo? I would have to agree with you, & I know people have lied about this kind of thing so often. But, supposedly they have verified their results with independent labs. I’m hoping you’re right, though. I think our only hope is that they just keep failing with this kind of stuff. They certainly keep trying.

Yep. I doubt that they’ve cloned a viable embryo. Look at the lies that the “pro-choice” zealots; I don’t put it past the embryonic stem cell zealots to fabricate data to further their agenda.

Eventually, though, someone will succeed.