In the interest of sparking an intelligent debate on a deeply philosophical issue, I'm going to comment on this article that I found while reading Leo Laporte's Blog.
This is going to really show my liberal side/view of life, but that's who I am. And most of you know that already.
I for one applaud the South Korean scientists for their incredible accomplishment. I see no reason why we should not allow stem cells to be created and cloned for the advancement of modern medicine. It's an interesting point now, since I have a child on the way. Abortion (which is what some are calling the killing of an embryo grown for it's stem cells) is not something that I would choose to do to a child of mine, but, in the same sense of letting my child live, I would want him/her to have every chance possible to lead a healthy and happy life. And the ability to clone organs if needed is just another tool of modern medicine that will allow this.
I agree, there needs to be definate boundaries set up for this type of research. I don't know that I agree with human cloning, at least not in the fullest of potentials. But why not allow organs to be cloned to replace ailing ones?
Please, let me know your thoughts. Let's get a good discussion going here.
Posted by doug at February 12, 2004 04:39 PMIf they can make JUST stem cells that's great. I don't agree with creating an embryo for the sole purpace of harvesting its cells. I suppose it's a matter of where you draw the line between "just a clump of cells" and "human", and I draw that line early on.
Posted by: stacey at February 12, 2004 06:44 PMMore information on this topic is available at MSNBC.
This pretty much sums up my feelings on the issue:
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who voted against a bill passed last year by the House that called for a ban on human cloning, said there needs to be legislation that would prevent cloning of babies, but permit “lifesaving stem cell research to proceed under strict ethical guidelines.”
Posted by: doug at February 13, 2004 02:23 PM