Archive | Genetics

It is widely known that embryonic stem cell research has the potential to revolutionize medicine and save millions of lives. Yet many Congressmen are frantically working to defeat a measure that would expand federal financing of this research. Why are they (and so many others) opposing embryonic stem cell research–and doing so under the banner [...]

In a huge breakthrough for medical progress, scientists from South Korea have finally created a cloned human embryo and extracted its stem cells–a feat that makes life-saving embryonic stem-cell treatments that much closer to reality. Instead of taking this thrilling news as an opportunity to celebrate cloning, politicians and intellectuals are once again calling for [...]

The U.N. General Assembly is unanimous on the need to ban human cloning. Unanimous. This alone should give serious pause to those who want to ban such cloning. The United Nations is an organization that is perpetually split (at best) on such clear issues as who are the aggressors, the Israelis or the Palestinians. The [...]

Biotechnological progress, long under moral and legal attack, was granted a two-year reprieve last Thursday when the United Nations announced that it is postponing consideration of an international ban on human cloning. Members of that body have been fiercely divided between those, including the United States, who seek to ban all cloning internationally, and those [...]

Congress is currently working up a list of dreadful penalties for anyone who even attempts human cloning, bandying about threats of 10-year prison terms and ruinous fines. The message to scientists is simple: create new life and you forfeit your own. Facing such severe threats, who would be crazy enough to attempt human cloning? The [...]

Every researcher has to evaluate several factors before entering a field of study. The work should be challenging, it should be helpful to humanity — and it should pay enough to make a living. Today, stem-cell research – supporters of which hope will lead to treatments for developmental disorders and birth defects, as well as [...]

“Life is creation, not a commodity,” says President Bush, defending his view that all cloning should be permanently outlawed. Life is a creation of whom — and for whose purpose? Do we make our own lives, for our own sakes, or is somebody else doing the making for us? A religious conservative such as President [...]

On November 25 Advanced Cell Technologies announced the creation of the first cloned human embryo. The company described its achievement as a crucial step in therapeutic cloning research, which aims at cloning new organs to replace damaged ones. Like healthy new skin for fire victims; or strong new bones for osteoporosis patients; or new retinas [...]

President George W. Bush just approved funding for limited embryonic stem-cell research. And he recently praised the 11-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act. Bad calls. Bush banned federal funds for cloning or for embryonic stem cells created solely for the purposes of research. Bush intends to allow federal funding on research for 60 stem-cell lines already [...]

On Monday, the Bush administration declared itself “unequivocally opposed” to human cloning, whether for stem-cell research or reproduction. “The moral and ethical issues posed by human cloning are profound and cannot be ignored in the quest for scientific discovery.” The premise here is apparent: until a scientist can satisfy the religiously minded, the scientist cannot [...]