June 2005

ANT: An answer to the Embryonic Stem Cell Debate?

Jennifer Lahl is National Director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. William Hurlbut, Stanford University, is member of the President’s Council on Bioethics. Lahl: Can you describe the basics behind Altered Nuclear Transfer (ANT)? Hurlbut: ANT seeks a morally acceptable means of procuring pluripotent stem cells (the functional equivalent of embryonic stem cells) [...]

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Is it a Goat Boy?

The Saturday night live creation of the funny character “goat boy” is really not so far fetched these days. Human-animal chimeras are here now. Chimeras, from Greek mythology were monsters made from blending the species of the lion, goat and a serpent. Chimeras blur the distinctions between species and raise complex moral questions about what [...]

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Adult Stem Cell Research

There is just so much information coming out in the newspapers today about all of the different kinds of scientific successes using adult stem cells. And from the San Jose Mercury News, “Many of the technologies we hyped to the general public haven’t workedyet,” Celgene President Alan Lewis said Wednesday at a biotechnology trade showin [...]

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The Challenge of the Biotech Century

(from theguardian.com 05/21/05) This appalling practice must cease, say people from left and right, religious and secular The extraordinary news that Korean scientists have used cloning to produce stem cell lines, and that in the UK we have our own first cloned embryos, should focus our minds afresh on what may prove to be the [...]

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A picture says a thousand words

Michael Schiavo, obeying a court order, finally must tell Terri’s parents where their beloved daughter is buried.

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Human Embryo Cloned from Immature Eggs

By Emma RossAP Medical Writer 7:04 AM PDT, June 20, 2005 COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Scientists have cloned human embryos for the first time using unripe eggs matured in a dish — a technique that may help cloning become a viable option for growing patients’ own replacement tissue to treat diseases. The experiment, outlined Monday at [...]

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The Perfect Life–The Perfect Lie

This summer a new movie from Dreamworks is coming to theaters. It is called, “The Island“.Hollywood does an excellent job of raising ‘human future’ questions and concerns through films. Think of the many, The Boys from Brazil, GATTACA (my personal favorite), I-Robot and the Sixth Day. I will be interested to see how the Island [...]

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Misguidelines

(from the weeklystandard.com) IF THERE WERE EVER any doubts that the National Academy of Sciences is pursuing an “anything” goes approach to biotechnological research, they were erased by the organization’s recently published tome, Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. The purported purpose of Guidelines is to create voluntary ethical protocols to govern human embryonic [...]

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Is it fact or fiction?

Check out this slick ad! Merrick Biotech says, “your more important commodity is you!”

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Scientist Behaving Badly

A new survey in Nature, shows scientist misconduct. Several thousand early- and mid-career scientists were surveyed. All are based in the United States and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the scientists reported on their own behaviors. The findings showed a wide range of questionable practices. “This is the first time such [...]

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