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September 13, 2004
Brittain, stop cloning around!
The British may be devastatingly handsome (as the likes of Austin Powers), however, the move to legalize human cloning should strike one as a bit questionable, considering the ethics (and aesthetics) at stake.
It appears that good old English common sense took a nose-dive on Wednesday, August 11th, as “Dr. Evil” and his entourage got the go-ahead to use human cloning for “medical research,” simultaneously granting a license to a research team at Newcastle University. The said team is reportedly stoked to become the first in Europe to perform therapeutic cloning using human embryos.
The same rehashed stem cell argument is back with a vengeance, this time propelled by science zealots haughtily waving their signed permission slips in our faces.
Granted, with diseases such as Diabetes, Cancer and Alzheimer’s disease permeating the fabric of our society, it should come as no surprise that “playing God” has made its way up the moral high-ground. The irony of the matter, is that human cloning isn’t necessary to generate stem cells for therapeutic purposes.
For all of you pseudo-scientists, a collective “duh” should be in order. Fact is, all of the reported “stem cell miracles” were
courtesy of adult (not embryonic) stem cells.
After successfully turning cells taken from human fat into different cell types, Duke University Medical Center researchers demonstrated that these specific cells are truly adult stem cells with multiple potential, instead of being a mixture of different types of cells, each with a more limited destiny.
During the past three years, the Duke researchers exposed cells taken from human liposuction procedures to different cocktails of nutrients and vitamins, and essentially, “reprogrammed” them to grow into bone, cartilage, fat and nerve cells. At the time, they termed these cells adipose-derived stromal cells.
As a result of the latest set of experiments, however, the researchers are now confident that the majority of these cells are indeed truly adult stemcells that have the potential to be reprogrammed into “traveling” down multiple developmental paths.
Numerous tree-huggers would have you believe the issue lies in telling Parkinson’s patients to just deteriorate, or telling diabetics to get jovial about insulin injections.
In reality, the “quality of life” argument has been exploited to no end for the advancement of an agenda that at the very least, can be termed only as sci-fi curiosity. At worst, selective breeding and IQ upgrading could proceed to proliferate a revival of fascist idealism.
As always, the old greenback will stand as sufficient motive, especially for the long-term investors who will undoubedtly
find this opportunity deliciously in +vogue.
Come what may, the genie has been let out of the bottle and cannibalizing our young for the sake of titillating massive egos has become a pivotal point in the grand scheme of things.
There will always be those who insist on the insignificance of the unborn and therefore feel perfectly justified in delivering this “gift to science.” There will always be those who in their limitless arrogance, convince themselves of their right to tamper with nature, yet certainly would deny all liability should something go sour.
When exactly, does one come to the realization that not everything in this life was meant to be at our disposal? What will happen when that realization comes too late?
John F. Kilner so eloquently stated, “In the flurry of scientific boundary breaking, let’s remember that humans are not sheep.” Well, if you ask me, we owe Dolly a big apology.
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