David Ancell / Wednesday, November 21, 2007 / Comments(0)
The New York Times reported that scientists have found out how to turn human skin cells into cells just like human embryonic stem cells. Of course, this will legitimately bypass the moral problem of embryonic stem calls. They managed to get a quote from Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk on this.
However, this line is a bit of a problem:
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.
Technically, this is correct, but it is still misleading. They leave no mention of adult stem cells that can be obtained and used to treat illnesses (and have been used that way) with no moral problems. The cells may not be as flexible as an embryonic cell, but they are easier to control. This leads me to my second point.
The article goes on to say that the method used to produce the cells could be a risk for them to become cancerous. This may be. However, the possibility of cells harvested from human embryos to become cancerous just because of the difficulty in controlling them was left out of the article.
I really wish someone who knew what they were talking about would write these stories on stem cell research. They could at least let people know that adult stem cells can and have been used. Without this, the public isn’t getting complete information.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Saturday, November 10, 2007 / Comments(0)
I wasn’t planning on going to New Jersey anyway, but now that they’ve passed a law requiring pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill, I’m really not going. Other sources state that a pharmacist can try to locate a nearby pharmacy that will dispense, but this doesn’t really help things. This state supposedly has a large Catholic population, but they apparently cannot or are not willing to stand against this.
The sick part of this is the senator who sponsored the bill saying that conscience “should not come into play when subjective beliefs conflict with objective medical decisions.” Uh, hello, just what kind of “objective medical decision” is this anyway? If someone told me to go kill someone on the street, I doubt I could tell the police that I couldn’t let my conscience get in the way of someone’s “objective decision.” There is simply no objective medicine involved.
I was scanning comments on Newsday (here and here), and I noticed a couple of interesting items. First, one writer seems to have forgotten what really causes pregnancy. She writes “If the condom fails to work and you become pregnant, just go to your pharmacist and all the other refusing pharmacists.” Did it ever occur to this person that one who does not want to get pregnant does not have to do that which causes pregnancy? It’s a choice, and any adult should know what they are doing. If the natural consequences occur, take the responsibility instead of expecting someone to give you a pill that may (but won’t necessarily) destroy the life you have helped create by your own choice.
Other comments that I have seen many times say such wonderful things about how people all have different opinions that are “equally valid.” I wonder if my opinion would be “equally valid” if I believed I should rob someone’s house, and I saw nothing wrong with it. If not, then how does he know? It isn’t “moralists” imposing “arbitrary values” on people that leads to “moral narcissism.” The narcissism in our society is caused by people who believe that they should be allowed to do whatever they want without considering the natural consequences.
Category: Posts imported from Danger! Falling Brainwaves, Uncategorized
David Ancell / Saturday, November 10, 2007 / Comments(0)
I just got a letter in the mail from Honda congratulating me on my new car. In the letter, they were sure to mention crash safety, which is really on my mind given recent events. However, I got a kick out of this line in the letter:
And, did you know, you even have energy-absorbing structures in the hood and front fenders to help minimize injuries to pedestrians? That’s what we call “Safety for Everyone.”
So, if I run over someone, I guess their injuries will be minimized.
Category: Uncategorized