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January 15, 2005
Stem cells, Embryos, and Acorns
Robert George and Patrick Lee recently wrote this piece for The New Atlantis Journal. Their clear logic in defending the egalitarian view of human beings is simply incredible. Here is an excerpt, but please read the whole thing. You may never find clearer thinking about this issue.
If we were to contemplate killing mentally retarded infants to obtain transplantable organs, no one would characterize the resulting controversy as a debate “about organ transplantation.” The dispute would properly be characterized as a debate about the ethics of killing retarded children to harvest their vital organs. The issue could not be resolved by considering how many gravely ill non-retarded people could be saved by extracting a heart, two kidneys, and a liver from each retarded child. The threshold question would be whether it is unjust to relegate a certain class of human beings—the retarded—to the status of objects that can be killed and dissected to benefit others.
By the same token, we should not be speaking in terms of a debate “about embryonic stem cell research.” No one would object to the use of embryonic stem cells in biomedical research or therapy if they could be harvested without killing or harming the embryos from whom they were obtained. Nor would anyone object to using such cells if they could be obtained from embryos lost in spontaneous abortions. The point of controversy is the ethics of deliberately destroying human embryos for the purpose of harvesting their stem cells. The threshold question is whether it is unjust to kill members of a certain class of human beings—those in the embryonic stage of development—to benefit others.
Posted by OMFSerge | January 15, 2005 | Permalink
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» Embryos are Humans of the Same Kind from bLogicus
Robert George and Patrick Lee have published what is one of the clearest statements Ive read on the ethics of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research. Appearing in the New Atlantis, their article is titled Acorns and Embryos and is a... [Read More]
Tracked on Jan 16, 2005 2:04:44 AM
» Technopoly:
Culture, Technology, and The New Atlantis from the evangelical outpost
[Note: I used to think that The New Atlantis was my little secret, a source of blog material that no one else knew about. Not anymore. The latest issue just came out a few days ago and already better blogs... [Read More]
Tracked on Jan 19, 2005 12:16:37 AM
Comments
Gosh, Robert George is smart (I'm guessing Lee isn't an intellectual slouch either). I'm surprised his head hasn't exploded from that massive brain of his. I love using the "an acorn isn't an oak tree but it is an oak. All you've proven is that an embryo isn't a grown human being" line but I'd never even thought about the way we value oaks and humans differently as a way to disprove that argument.
I find it interesting that Sandel, a Harvard professor, is using the same lame "an acorn isn't an oak tree" argument that any average/below average pro-choice blogger might use. That line has been around for years probably even decades. You'd think he'd be able to come up with something a little more challenging/original than that.
Posted by: Jivin J | Jan 18, 2005 10:19:52 AM
Nobody that I know of, not NARAL nor the catholic church has stated that the unfertilized human ovum is the same as the fertilized ovum, or that it should be looked at using the same quasi-legal or ethical considerations that some wish to apply to the fertilied ovum.
For this reason, I would very much like the comments of Imago Dei on the recently published work of Wu Suk Hwang of the Seoul National University, with the enthusiastic support of Jerry Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh. As detailed in the scientific literature (the journal Science 2004) and on the July 29 edition of the PBS News Hour, in which he took an unfertilized human ovum, and removed the haploid nucleus, replacing it with a diploid nucleus from skin cells from the same woman. He was able to obtain stem cell lines from the developing cells. This surely would be similar both from legal and ethical standpoints to stem cell lines obtained from amniotic cells or cord blood, or from adults, both of which are classified as adults stem cell lines. At the same time, this would seem to be much closer to the embryonic stem cell lines desired for the best researchers.
Furthermore, Hwang has established stem cell lines using the same type of enucleated unfertilized ova into which nuclei from eleven different individuals with a variety of genetic diseases. This obviously gives the chance of investigating the genetic details of these diseases, and possibilty of eventually developing therapeutic interventions.
Clearly, they were not dealing with a potential human being. The cell lines could never be used for human cloning. Both fertilized and unfertilized human ova are produced by the thousand in the many IVF clinics around the world, in the majority of cases only to be eventually discarded either intentionally though aging in the freezer. If the fertilized ova are not be used, for ethical reasons, surely the unfertilized ones are acceptible for research, which could provide unimaginable medical benefits.
Please give the reaction to this research on the part of Imago Dei. While you are at it, why not give the official position on the ethics of discarding fertilized ova by IVF clinics.
Posted by: D. Lavrin | Aug 9, 2005 1:40:04 AM
As detailed in the scientific literature (the journal Science 2004) and on the July 29 edition of the PBS News Hour, in which he took an unfertilized human ovum, and removed the haploid nucleus, replacing it with a diploid nucleus from skin cells from the same woman.
How does this differ from the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique used to create Dolly the sheep (and a number of other animals?)
While you are at it, why not give the official position on the ethics of discarding fertilized ova by IVF clinics.
Although I suppose the four of us really do not hold "official" positions, I will be posting on this very shortly.
Thanks for stopping by!
Serge
Posted by: Serge | Aug 9, 2005 9:42:57 AM
