"No, it's a mass of generic totipotent cells. If it makes it into a mother's womb, it might (about 1/2 fail to implant) become twins, triplets, or it might merge with another blastula to form a single individual. Or it might fail to implant and be expelled as waste. If we start declaring that fertilized eggs are human beings, do we then investigate every woman who has an early miscarriage for suspicion of murder or neglect (too much excercise, coffee or stress can cause a zygote to fail to implant)?"
I see your logic here, so an infant isn't really a human being either because it might die of SIDS, or it might die from heart complications, or it might be killed by the dog, or it might be tossed out with the bathwater. I'm sorry but making it to adulthood is not a requirement for being a human being. I also argue that making it to infancy is not a requirement for being a human being. These are simply stages of development of the same Human Being. If you even try to argue that life begins at birth then you will have a difficult time ever having your voice heard in the scientific community over all of the laughing.
German scientists learned a great deal during World War II by doing research on living human beings. In fact we could really advance our technology a whole lot faster if we removed are moral boundaries, yet would it really make this world a better place?
People are already attempting to clone children that died prematurely so don't tell me that this type of research won't open doors to cloning
"From the sounds of it, the embryo is just going to be tossed out anyway."
Yean, and people on Death Row are going to be "tossed out anyways", also, but this doesn't mean that we can butcher them all and sell their organs to the highest bidder. If you stop for a moment and think about this topic very seriously you'll also realize that saying that it ought to be acceptable to do medical research on these because they're going to die anyways is not a smart thing to say. Remember, you too are going to die anyways. That doesn't mean that I have to right to take your life early because there could possibly maybe be a chance that I could learn something that might possibly make someone else's life more comfortable.
I'm sorry but that's completely incorrect. An embryo is simply a fetus a few months earlier. Allow me to bring you up to date on the science of life. A male reproductive cell (spermatozoa) unites with a female reproductive cell (ovum) and together they become a single celled human being (Zygote). If you look at any chart that shows the Development of a Human Being you will see the first stage of any Adults life being a Zygote, progressing through various stages of development. These stages have been given names, however these named stages are all simply periods of development of the same being created at conception (or perhaps multiple beings in the case of twins). Human Reproduction
"This is similar to judging all movies value as Free Speech based on
Nightmare on Elm St.
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
Yes, and those 4 movies all are censored to underaged viewers just as violent video games ought to be.
Brian
I agree with you. This is definitely going down a road we don't want to go down. The value of human life is quickly slipping from our fingers. It won't be long until we issue an apology to the Nazi's for thinking that they were wrong about the genetic super race. Definitely scary.
Slashdot Mirror
"No, it's a mass of generic totipotent cells. If it makes it into a mother's womb, it might (about 1/2 fail to implant) become twins, triplets, or it might merge with another blastula to form a single individual. Or it might fail to implant and be expelled as waste. If we start declaring that fertilized eggs are human beings, do we then investigate every woman who has an early miscarriage for suspicion of murder or neglect (too much excercise, coffee or stress can cause a zygote to fail to implant)?"
I see your logic here, so an infant isn't really a human being either because it might die of SIDS, or it might die from heart complications, or it might be killed by the dog, or it might be tossed out with the bathwater. I'm sorry but making it to adulthood is not a requirement for being a human being. I also argue that making it to infancy is not a requirement for being a human being. These are simply stages of development of the same Human Being. If you even try to argue that life begins at birth then you will have a difficult time ever having your voice heard in the scientific community over all of the laughing.
German scientists learned a great deal during World War II by doing research on living human beings. In fact we could really advance our technology a whole lot faster if we removed are moral boundaries, yet would it really make this world a better place?
People are already attempting to clone children that died prematurely so don't tell me that this type of research won't open doors to cloning
"From the sounds of it, the embryo is just going to be tossed out anyway." Yean, and people on Death Row are going to be "tossed out anyways", also, but this doesn't mean that we can butcher them all and sell their organs to the highest bidder. If you stop for a moment and think about this topic very seriously you'll also realize that saying that it ought to be acceptable to do medical research on these because they're going to die anyways is not a smart thing to say. Remember, you too are going to die anyways. That doesn't mean that I have to right to take your life early because there could possibly maybe be a chance that I could learn something that might possibly make someone else's life more comfortable.
"...a fetus and an embryo are not the same."
I'm sorry but that's completely incorrect. An embryo is simply a fetus a few months earlier. Allow me to bring you up to date on the science of life. A male reproductive cell (spermatozoa) unites with a female reproductive cell (ovum) and together they become a single celled human being (Zygote). If you look at any chart that shows the Development of a Human Being you will see the first stage of any Adults life being a Zygote, progressing through various stages of development. These stages have been given names, however these named stages are all simply periods of development of the same being created at conception (or perhaps multiple beings in the case of twins). Human Reproduction
So you don't think that local authorities would ever approve of something so blatantly offensive to a section of humanity? Catholics Want "Antichrist" Billboard Removed Brian
"This is similar to judging all movies value as Free Speech based on Nightmare on Elm St. Halloween Friday the 13th Texas Chainsaw Massacre" Yes, and those 4 movies all are censored to underaged viewers just as violent video games ought to be. Brian
You're absolutely right Shook. This was a case of Adult Stem Cell research which isn't controversial at all. Brian
I agree with you. This is definitely going down a road we don't want to go down. The value of human life is quickly slipping from our fingers. It won't be long until we issue an apology to the Nazi's for thinking that they were wrong about the genetic super race. Definitely scary.