Eminent Domain Stuff
New London Update (2/24/06)
Bad NLDC!
Coverage of the Rally at New London's City Hall (w/ pics)
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Stem Cells Across The Pond
Here's The Scientist's update on Spain's stem cell situation. It looks like they're on the way to full-blown, embryo-derived, stem cell research. More to follow, I'm sure.
Update
As pointed out in the Comments (jefe), Nancy Reagan has indeed come out in favor of stem cell research. She apparently takes this stand due to the purported potential to cure Alzheimer’s disease, which President Reagan suffers from.
Mrs. Reagan’s position on this issue highlights an important point. When it comes to ethics there is often a conflict between high-minded principles and personal beliefs. We see it all the time in medicine. For example, the price tag to keep a 24-week-old premature infant alive is staggering and these poor kids are guaranteed to have lung problems and almost certainly will have low IQs. From 24,000 feet, it seems that making these expenditures is unsupportable given the initial and lifetime price tag and the generally poor outcome. However, all such decisions (in our health care system, anyway) are made at a personal level. So we end up doing everything humanly possible for these babies because who can look at two parents and say, “We have the ability to save your child’s life, but it just doesn’t make sense economically.”? The fact is we don’t and so we spend huge sums to keep these innocent little ones breathing (which I think is the right thing to do by the way).
Stem cell research is similar in that one might argue it is immoral given that an embryo is destroyed in the process. However, one’s opinion might be very different if such research would save a loved one. The rub with this particular issue is that there is no guarantee any such advancements will come of this research. Rather, we have only hopes and expectations. Will they pan out? The fact is we don’t know, and so we have no choice but to weigh the potential gain with the moral problem raised by the fact that embryos are destroyed in the process of obtaining these stem cells.
Whether or not we allow stem cell research will depend on the outcome of this balancing act.
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Here's The Scientist's update on Spain's stem cell situation. It looks like they're on the way to full-blown, embryo-derived, stem cell research. More to follow, I'm sure.
Update
As pointed out in the Comments (jefe), Nancy Reagan has indeed come out in favor of stem cell research. She apparently takes this stand due to the purported potential to cure Alzheimer’s disease, which President Reagan suffers from.
Mrs. Reagan’s position on this issue highlights an important point. When it comes to ethics there is often a conflict between high-minded principles and personal beliefs. We see it all the time in medicine. For example, the price tag to keep a 24-week-old premature infant alive is staggering and these poor kids are guaranteed to have lung problems and almost certainly will have low IQs. From 24,000 feet, it seems that making these expenditures is unsupportable given the initial and lifetime price tag and the generally poor outcome. However, all such decisions (in our health care system, anyway) are made at a personal level. So we end up doing everything humanly possible for these babies because who can look at two parents and say, “We have the ability to save your child’s life, but it just doesn’t make sense economically.”? The fact is we don’t and so we spend huge sums to keep these innocent little ones breathing (which I think is the right thing to do by the way).
Stem cell research is similar in that one might argue it is immoral given that an embryo is destroyed in the process. However, one’s opinion might be very different if such research would save a loved one. The rub with this particular issue is that there is no guarantee any such advancements will come of this research. Rather, we have only hopes and expectations. Will they pan out? The fact is we don’t know, and so we have no choice but to weigh the potential gain with the moral problem raised by the fact that embryos are destroyed in the process of obtaining these stem cells.
Whether or not we allow stem cell research will depend on the outcome of this balancing act.
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