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Oklahoman Editorial Not Who We Are: Moral Dilemma in Stem Cell Research 2001-07-01 The notion of involuntary human medical experimentation still, as it should, sends chills down our spines. Ghastly things were done to living, unwilling human subjects in Nazi camps. These atrocities were carried out with the attitude that the prisoners were sub-human and headed for destruction anyway, so they might as well be put to good use to advance medical knowledge that might save lives. Dr. Josef Mengele, who carried out the experiments, is now universally considered a monster, but at the time in his country he was considered a sophisticated, well educated gentleman carrying out his country's policy. Present day America has developed a very serious blind spot, and is rapidly developing an "end justifies the means" mentality in elite circles. Until recently it was understood as a basic moral principle that deliberate evil may never be done even for a good end. But of late we have found ourselves in the midst of a terrible moral dilemma, and many people have no clue how serious it is. The debate now rages over federal funding for the use of fertilized human embryos for extremely tantalizing medical research. This is promoted by advocates on the grounds that "they are going to be discarded anyway." The argument is compelling to many, especially for those with loved ones with tragic medical conditions which such research could possibly benefit. Still, a fertilized embryo is a human being -- or, in the troubled phrase of a noted jurist, "potential human life." Some deny this core humanity with a kind of out-of-sight-out-of-mind attitude: "How can an embryo be a human being? It looks nothing like great-uncle Harry who died under Mengele's evil experiments. How dare you make the comparison?" What makes a human being? These embryos are human, not some other species. They are alive and have a unique genetic make up complete with 46 chromosomes. They are living beings who are human -- and therefore they are human beings. They are considered discardable only because of their age and stage of development. Discarding them would kill them -- as would such medical experimentation. It is wrong to kill an innocent human being, which is what these embryos are. In a TV debate, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who favors federal funding for embryonic research, said repeatedly that "they are going to be discarded anyway." Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback countered: "Why didn't we experiment on Timothy McVeigh? He was going to be killed. We knew that was going to take place. Why not experiment on him?" The answer is that even on a condemned and despised criminal like McVeigh, involuntary human medical experimentation is repugnant, an atrocity. It's not the kind of people we are in America. Stem cells for this research can be obtained from legitimate sources like umbilical cords, human fat and adult humans without causing harm or ethical dilemmas. That's the way to go. http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=711022&pic=none&TP=getarticle * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn