Stem-cell research has the potential to save lives. Of course there is no better organism with which to experiment than a human being, but this does not validate it. The ends do not justify the means, lest we should have to re-evaluate the actions of "Dr. Auschwitz," Josef Mengele.
Let's not re-evaluate him. Let's call him a murderer. Let's not use human beings as unwilling participants in medical experimentation.
But embryos are not people, some might say. They have human DNA, so what else are they? They're not Martians. They're not turtles. They're humans who cannot scream; humans who cannot survive to relate the horrible ordeal. That's why it's so easy to kill them.
Don't tell sob stories about those afflicted by disorders that might be cured by stem cell research. Sob stories are irrelevant. They are ad miseracordiam. The issue is, should some humans be killed intentionally and undeservedly (i.e. murdered) in order to save others possibly.
If the government has any authority, it is only to protect the human rights to life, liberty, and the ownership of property. Embryos are human, embryos live, and they have the right to live.
Great blog!
ReplyDeleteIf these scientists want to work on humans, embryos or otherwise, why not ask people on the street? Why not make magazine ads? If they want to use stem-cells, they would be able to find enough willing participants if they put up a high enough fee. Could they use corpses that donate themselves to science, or does that not work cause their dead? Is there another way, or will we be forever without the information?
ReplyDeleteCarly:
ReplyDeleteThere are other ways, including voluntary participation. The availability of corpses is not the issue. First of all, corpses are available. Second, the kind of stem cell that's important cannot be farmed from corpses.
Couldn't they use stem cells from stillborns? They're generally not too developed...
ReplyDeleteAt issue is the killing of people for their cells, not the harvesting of cells from dead bodies.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I don't think that stillborns work, as the cells in question are embryonic. Such cells can develop into any kind of cell, so they are preferred by morally detatched researchers such as Dr. Mengele.
There are 3 types of stem cells. There are the embroyonic stem cells(ESC), There are adult stem cells, and there are embryonic germ cells. The last category is derived from a fetus' ovary/testicle.
ReplyDeleteThe most useful one is the ESC. This is because when they are harvested at 4 to 5 days, they contain hundreds of undifferentiated cells. Undifferentiated means that the cell has the ability to grow into any type of tissue (muscle, skin, bone, epithelial, etc.).
I apologize to those who already know this. I'm not trying to lecture here.
But I digress from my point. Harvesting embryos is not killing people. A 4-5 day embryo in a test tube is not a person. It has no chance to be a person. If left alone in the test tube it would not make it to term. In order for a fetus to develop it must be implanted in a uterus. Failing that it will not be a human. It is just a possible human.
This failure to implant in the uterus is not common to the "detached" researchers in the lab. It happens on a daily basis to women all over the planet. (Check out this website to learn more about the causes and possible treatment http://www.illinoisivf.com/recurrent-pregnancy-loss/pre-implantation.html)
Conception does not necessarily make a person. The potential for the zygote to become a person does not make it a person. If that was the case then the arguement could be made that masturbation is as bad as stem cell research. Every sperm is a potential person, it just needs an egg. A woman ovulation cycle is wrong too. Every egg is a potential person, it just needs a sperm. Every zygote is a potential person, it just needs a uterus.
"Let the heathens spill theirs on the dusty ground. God shall make them pay for each sperm that can't be found."
-Monty Python "The Meaning of Life"
A "possible" human being is a human being, for it cannot possibly be anything else (could it possibly become a camel?).
ReplyDeleteSure, left un implanted in a uterus, an embryo will die. Left alone anywhere without care, a baby will die. And left alone in the middle of the Sahara with no supplies, most of us would die as well. Big deal.
As for what really got you going, I was not attacking masturbation, but the twice-daily holocaust that occurs in your bathroom and in front of your computer is rather horrible.