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VERY thought provoking questions/comments, J.P. VERY.... Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Joao Paulo Carvalho <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 12:55 PM Subject: Re: NEWS-Panel Urges Embryo Donation Policy >The decision of some ethicists will have a great impact in how to find a >cure for PD and many other terrible diseases . >It is hard to me to understand the logic of some human fellows : > >1 . It is LEGAL to kill and be killed during wars ( men and women ) . If >one can think of how many billions and billions of potential embryos are >destroyed with these deaths ? >But killing , or even using few embryos for research and cure is NOT >LEGAL .... > >2. It is LEGAL for couples to plan how many children they want to have . >For that they may utilize any of the many anticonceptive methods . And >what these methods are ? In some way they avoid the junction of the male >and the female cells to form the embryos . In other words they let these >cells to die , or be killed It is LEGAL . >But using the junction of these cells , the embryos , well it is NOT >LEGAL . > >Maybe I am looking the problem as a martian ..... :-) > >Cheers , > >Joao > > >judith richards wrote: > >> Panel Urges Embryo Donation Policy >> >> WASHINGTON (AP) _ Women with embryos left over from infertility >> treatments should be allowed to donate them to taxpayer-funded >> medical research _ meaning a federal law that prohibits such >> research should be changed, President Clinton's top ethics advisers >> said Monday. >> The National Bioethics Advisory Commission's report comes even >> though the White House previously indicated it disagrees with that >> recommendation. >> At issue are embryonic stem cells, unique ``master cells'' that >> in early embryos generate all the other tissues of the body. Stem >> cells are causing huge scientific excitement, because researchers >> hope the cells one day could regenerate body parts or create new >> therapies for Alzheimer's and other devastating diseases. >> But their use has raised troubling ethical questions, because >> culling stem cells destroys the embryo. Federal law prohibits >> taxpayer-funded human embryo research, and about 75 members of >> Congress have opposed a move to get around that prohibition to >> enable the National Institutes of Health to study the cells' >> medical potential. >> So Clinton ordered his ethics advisers to study how the nation >> should proceed. >> Citing the cells' great promise, the panel said embryos left >> over from infertility treatment _ which otherwise would be thrown >> away _ should be allowed to be donated to taxpayer-funded >> scientists. >> Privately funded researchers last year culled stem cells from >> donated embryos, and multiplied the cells in a laboratory. Despite >> the federal law, the NIH contends it would be legal for its >> researchers to use those lab-grown supplies because government >> scientists never touched the original embryos. >> But the ethics panel said that relying on those supplies ``could >> severely limit scientific and clinical progress'' because more >> embryos may be needed. The federal ban should be changed because it >> ``conflicts with several of the ethical goals of medicine ... >> especially healing.'' >> Embryos could not be sold, and couples could not be pressured to >> donate, the panel stressed. >> Clinton issued a statement thanking the ethicists for ``a >> thoughtful report.'' But the White House in July said it didn't >> plan to try to get the law changed, instead backing the NIH >> proposal. > > +----| Joao Paulo de Carvalho |------ + > | [log in to unmask] | > +--------| Salvador-Bahia-Brazil |------+