British scientists will be allowed to research devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using human-animal embryos, after the House of Commons rejected a ban yesterday.
An amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that would have outlawed the creation of “human admixed embryos” for medical research was defeated in a free vote by a majority of 160, preserving what Gordon Brown regarded as a central element of the legislation.
The Government is braced for defeat today, however, on a separate clause that would scrap the requirement that fertility clinics consider a child’s need for a father before treating patients. MPs will also consider amendments tonight that would cut the legal limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 22 or 20 weeks.
Depressing, but given our extended tolerance of IVF, not unexpected. I’m starting to wonder what it will take to persuade secular society that one can’t sacrifice one vulnerable population to save another. I recall listening not so long ago to a chilling BBC radio adaptation of Stephen Gallagher’s [url=http://www.zone-sf.com/chimeratv.html]Chimera[/url], whose premise was the surreptitious creation of a viable human-animal hybrid. In today’s debates such an idea was scoffed at, but then the sponsors of the 1967 Abortion Act insisted – I suspect sincerely – that it was not intended to lead to abortion-on-demand and we all know the reality.
[url=http://catholicandreformed.blogspot.com]Catholic and Reformed[/url]
Agree with Jeremy with all my common sense. Science has no knowledge whatever where this admixed embryo can lead, no sense of what unforeseen consequences lie in wait for for the most cautious researcher. Nor have they paid attention to the freelancer and the unprincipled and what they might do. This is scientism at its most frightening. The church needs to fight this battle with all the weapons it can must er. Larry
It is simply outrageous the press and these “scientists” who dangle the hope of curing terrible diseases and call on desperate people to compromise ethics.
Michael J. Fox would be insane if he agreed to put embryonic stem cells into his brain. The risk for teratoma formation is very high. With somatic stem cells (adult or umbilical cord blood), the potential is much less and the potential for true medical advancement is much greater.