here are some of my thoughts on stem cell research:
i have posed some questions
-- not just retorically --
response is expected from the list please.
jo ann coen wrote:
> Actually, Gang, I read in the Houston Chronicle (which I believe is
> LAW. Hee,Hee) that stem cells were grown from taking cells out of a
> malignant tumor. They can be grown from bone marrow as well.
> What about the things I've read about using pig's parts to grow stem
at a fundamental level of research
stem cells from enbryos need to be understood--
animals can be used for experimentation
not too many objections to that -- yet --
but, then there is always that last step involving humans.
these are cell lines we're talking about.
microscopic entities on the bottom of labware.
this is not a new development.
on a clinical level -- to relieve suffering --
cells have been collected from products of conception
(spontaneous abortion), amniotic fluid, chorionic villi
or foreskin, or tumors, or marrow,
or various body parts after surgery for various reasons
--to look at biochemistry, chromosomes, morphology...
and it has been going on for years.
i used to do it.
why no out cry of protest for these cells?
what is the confusion?
what are our goals?
what are our priorities?
as individuals and at the world level?
we are now capable of using any of those cells
--to produce a cloned human--
that is the potential...not the problem
the PROBLEM is our present dilemma
of an inadequate PHILOSOPHICAL basis to make
ethically and morally correct use of our knowledge.
we FEAR that that bizzare and disastrous consequences
will result from letting the genie out of the bottle but,--
it is out.
value or anti-value?
how do we judge?
suppressing this research will not solve the problem.
it will go on elsewhere or in secret, and without regulation,
possibly without sharing results, or for reasons other than
curing disease...
take a look at nuclear power as an example.
value or anti-value?
in whose hands?
how do we live with the past --
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl and more?
how do we judge how to use it?
how do we live with the future?
what do we do with the consequences
--10.000 years from now?
> cells? It's not a matter of embryos at this point, it's a matter of
> getting the stem cells done, to find a cure for this insiduous disease
> Just think, if it can help PD/PSP, etc. maybe it can help impotence and
> frigidity. Maybe it can help fertility. You know, there is no end to
> the things new stem cells can accomplish. Let's root FOR, not AGAINST.
i'm FOR research and progress
as long as it has value
-- to relieve suffering --
not to produce anti-value
> Best to you all. JO ANN
..........................................................................
Ray Strand
..........................................................................
48/47 dx/40 ?onset
The fight against Parkinson's Disease
http://www.michaeljfox.org/
..........................................................................
http://www.metalsmith.org/gall/strand/
..........................................................................
...on the edge of the prairie abyss ......................
