August 27, 2007
Geron his issued another press release claiming advances in embryonic stem cell research, and once again saying, as it has for years, that the company is very close to human trials. But that is not the point of this post. … Read More
August 26, 2007
A crisis looms in China as 18 million men want wives and the women don’t exist because of forced abortion, female infanticide, and other eugenic actions resulting from China’s one child policy. From the story in the Guardian: China is … Read More
August 26, 2007
The momentum is growing in some quarters advocating for what is often called “rational suicide.” One of the first articles I saw about “rational suicide” was written some nine years ago by a former Hemlock Society activist and psychologist named … Read More
August 22, 2007
I have long asserted that conducting ESCR and human cloning research is not intended, nor will it long remain, in the Petri dish. Rather, the real game is implantation and gestation into the late embryo and fetal stages, which would … Read More
August 22, 2007
The Associated Press has, miracle of miracles, reported accurately about the planned anti-cloning amendment that Missouri’s own media generally botched. From the AP report (in the St. Louis Post Dispatch!) byline David A. Lieb: Without specifically repealing last year’s measure, … Read More
August 16, 2007
For all of the whining we hear from the political-scientists about lack of funding for ESCR/SCNT, it is stunning to see just how much money is out there for the research, as shown in the Rockefeller Institute Report, “Federalism by … Read More
August 14, 2007
The weak and vulnerable need the “conscience” protection provided by adherence to the sanctity/equality of life ethic. Without extra devotion to this vital principle, those least able to defend themselves can become victimized by behavior that flows from a belief … Read More
August 14, 2007
The Holocaust Museum of Houston, Texas is presenting a terrific lecture series entitled “Medical Ethics and the Holocaust” over the fall and into the early winter. I am honored to be a participant. I will be debating the issue of … Read More
August 13, 2007
We’ve heard the mantra repeatedly: embryonic stem cells are the only hope (or the best hope) for curing this disease and that disease. But the evidence continues to grow that this just isn’t true. Today’s story deals with multiple sclerosis. … Read More
August 13, 2007
This story illustrates how politics has twisted the proper pursuit of regenerative medicine in California. During the last six years or so, the legislature went GA-GA over ESCR and human cloning. It passed a state law explicitly permitting human cloning … Read More
August 10, 2007
Well, it didn’t work out as the pro-cloners wanted. Missouri opponents of human cloning didn’t just roll over when Amendment 2 passed through one of the most deceptive campaigns I have ever seen, abetted by a totally biased and in … Read More
August 8, 2007
This PR press release contains two stories instead of one: First, researchers at UCLA apparently morphed embryonic stem cells into neural stem cells, and then, into working neurons. This is only the second time of which I am aware that … Read More
August 7, 2007
Human cloning is very hard to do, apparently. Indeed, despite the race to win a Nobel Prize by creating the first embryonic stem cells from cloned embryos, I only know of one experiment that seems to have resulted in the … Read More
August 5, 2007
The terrible story of the physician indicted for allegedly attempting to hasten the death of a disabled dying patient named Ruben Navarro in order to be able to harvest his organs–about which I first wrote a few days ago– is … Read More
August 4, 2007
Neil Munro is a wonderful journalist for the National Journal–one of the most prestigious public policy journals in the world. He covers biotechnology like no other and has a story out “Two Roads on Stem-Cell Policy” (no link available) about … Read More
August 2, 2007
The final verdict is in, and Wu-suk Hwang definitely did not clone human embryos. What he appears to have done is create stem cell lines from parthenogenesis in which eggs are stimulated to divide to the point that stem cells … Read More
August 1, 2007
This story demonstrates, yet again, that people who are diagnosed as profoundly cognitively impaired may merely be unable to communicate. A man described as being in a minimally conscious state has regained the ability to talk and eat after his … Read More
August 1, 2007
Experiments on zebra fish have produced a promising adult stem cell technique that could restore vision to the sightless. From the story: British researchers said on Wednesday they had successfully grown in the laboratory a type of adult stem cell … Read More
August 1, 2007
Sometimes I think that to some bioethicists, it’s all a mind game. The latest example is an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are on a hunger strike, and the authors are … Read More
July 31, 2007
This is true compassion: The George Mark Children’s House of San Leandro, California (SF Bay Area), is the first freestanding hospice and respite center for children in the country (as hard as that is to believe). This new approach to … Read More
July 31, 2007
One of the greatest fears among the general public about transplant medicine is that the sickest patients will not be viewed as people so much as organ farms, and indeed, that patients may be euthanized in order to gain access … Read More
July 30, 2007
The big secret that the media rarely address is that many bioethicists and bioscientists actually support reproductive cloning. Yes, yes, I know: Most scientific organizations, such as the NAS, and big-name bioethicists currently oppose permitting a cloned embryo to be … Read More
July 29, 2007
Advanced Cell Technology is always on the lookout for opportunities to garner money, either from private investors (sometimes after hyped stories of its research “successes” somehow “make it” into the papers), or from government grants. ACT’s most recent escapade involved … Read More
July 27, 2007
A gene therapy subject in an early human trial to treat arthritis has died, causing the experiment to be halted. Very sad. But such are the risks in human trials, which sometimes puts people in potential peril in the effort … Read More
July 26, 2007
Personhood theorists claim that one who becomes permanently unconscious has lost personhood. Some even claim that such people are “dead.” In any event, personhood theorists hold that a permanently unconscious human being is of materially less moral value than persons … Read More
