Stem-cell research is important to me. I've said this before. I've mentioned new organs and fluids, made from your own substance and guaranteed never to be rejected. I've mentioned the strokes, siezures and weakness of mind and body that I hope I can avoid. I don't know if I've expressed enough how important this is to me. Let me try now.
When an organ gives out on you, things change. There's a hole inside you. And you know that a lot of your friends and family could fill it, if they wanted to. If they could bring themselves to make that sacrifice. It's a big sacrifice to make, there's no denying that, but it's not like it'd kill them.
You, on the other hand, you're dying. Without that organ, you've only got a matter of years. And when you think about that you look at your friends and family, people you've known your whole life, who've stood by you through every break up, through every move and new job and every piece of crap that life can throw at you and who swear they'll stand by you through this, too, but who just can't bring themselves to give up an organ.
You look at them and you hate them. You think about every good turn they've done you, every hug they've given, every time they've made you laugh, every dollar they loaned you when you were desperate, every ride they gave you, every time they watched your kids and every time they just gave you their shoulder while you cried and you push all of that out of your mind and you hate them with every fiber of your being. Because they are letting you die.
And then, hating the people who are closest to you in all the world, you have to find a way to look yourself in the mirror the next morning.
There are certain people out there who feel that it's acceptable for this to happen. They claim to believe, rightly or wrongly, that an embryonic stem cell is alive and possesses a soul. They are making traditional cloning research in this country exceedingly difficult. They would like to make it impossible.
I want to believe that what they want will never happen. I believe that, as Victor Hugo wrote, "No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come." I hope that, if it's ever necessary, doctors can create new organs and fluids from my own body in order to let me live. I believe, very strongly, that we can find a way to fight against, or at least work around, every epidemic of cowardice and ignorance and fear. Science may have now done just that:
A trick that persuades human eggs to divide as if they have been fertilised could provide a source of embryonic stem cells that sidesteps ethical objections to existing techniques. . . �Embryos� created by the procedure do not contain any paternal chromosomes � just two sets of chromosomes from the mother � and so cannot develop into babies.
Comments (8)
Knowing you and your family as well as I do I know how important this issue is. There is no doubt that this is the kind of research that needs support and continued funding. We can only hope that the morons in power can see that we need this kind of progress in medicine.
Posted by Brian | December 2, 2004 7:24 AM
Posted on December 2, 2004 07:24
As I recall, one of the points of embryonic stem cell research was to find a way to bypass the need to use fertilized cells to achieve the same results. Hence, we got skin stem cell and umbilical cell treatments.
The article is very neat - using the chemical components of reproduction seperate from the actual cellular DNA factors to trigger a response in the egg. Sounds very Brave New World. Oh, wait...
Posted by Erik | December 2, 2004 7:48 AM
Posted on December 2, 2004 07:48
It sounds excelent if the egg is no longer capable of developing a new life then theres no reason to avoid research into the subject along those lines.
even from among the most ardent oposers.
Posted by gus | December 2, 2004 7:55 AM
Posted on December 2, 2004 07:55
As if even more evidence were needed that the Christian Coalition is batshit insane.
And the fact that they have the nerve to say that people like me and like Jason are 'bad people' because WE don't understand THEIR values pisses me off to no end.
The reason the Roman Catholic Church originally delared all-out war against rational scientific thought had nothing to do with beliefs or "values." It was, as always, about power. The RCC had delared its dogma the only means by which mankind can truly understand the world. If people were to listen to that liberal freak Galileo, on the other hand, they might try to understand the world through observation and rational thought, and the RCC would lose power. The Christian Coalition adopted that policy and is now the greatest impediment to scientific progress on Earth.
But that's the politics side of it, which is always ugly. On the science side, I was under the impression that the egg is not viable until it embeds itself in the uterine wall. If that is the case, then an in vitro procedure should solve the problem (but of course, the religious psychos hate the idea of in vitro also).
And so, for the above reasons, I intend to join the Illuminati.
Posted by Ben of the Azure Illuminati | December 2, 2004 3:28 PM
Posted on December 2, 2004 15:28
That's true, Erik. Skin and umbilical stem cells are one of the ways that scientists have tried to work around the ban. These stem cells aren't as reliable as the embryonic ones, and they're often similarly opposed by the "powers that be" for the simple reason of reductionism. To wit, "stem cell must equal possible life."
To be fair, as Ben points out, there's pretty much no way whatsoever that even an in vitrally fertilized egg (i.e. not a stem cell, but an actual egg) will become a baby unless it gets attached to the uterus (or, possibly, some other body part). This has more to do with nutrients and such than anything else, though; cells need energy to keep dividing and so far we haven't found a means of providing them with enough outside of the means that nature has already presented to us.
This is why you see human ears created on the backs of rats and pigs and jaw bones grown inside of men and not so much babies in growing in giant vats of green chemicals. At least not yet...
Posted by Jason | December 2, 2004 5:02 PM
Posted on December 2, 2004 17:02
There is also the issue in reproductive science that there is a certain percentage of eggs that are normally viable while the others never reach the blastocyst stage. Non-viable eggs have less of an ethical stigma for research, but the problem is, what if viable eggs and usable research material are pulled from the same pool of candidates, statistically speaking? Then there's a problem.
As long as we're talking politics and God, I should mention that Bill O'Reilly will be doing his ONLY book signing this year at Bookends in Ridgewood NJ on Sunday.
Less than 6 miles away. It would be so easy to go give him the finger. The universe is taunting me.
Posted by Erik | December 2, 2004 9:09 PM
Posted on December 2, 2004 21:09
I'm not entirely sure that there's a way to tell which eggs are viable and which are not, though, so I don't see that problem going away any time soon.
As for Book O'Reilly at Billends, well, it is a cute little bookstore... And it's only a few blocks down from the Country Pancake House...
Posted by Jason | December 3, 2004 10:38 AM
Posted on December 3, 2004 10:38
Giving O'Reilly the finger AND getting pancakes in the same day!!?? Too good to be possible in a just and logical universe. I must enlist Nick in this escapade.
Posted by Erik | December 3, 2004 11:16 AM
Posted on December 3, 2004 11:16