Thursday, December 7, 2006
Morlino gets ally in stem cell expert
Ben Hancock reports in The Capital Times from a debate in Madison on stem cell research.
Which aligned him in the debate with the Catholic Bishop of Madison, William Morlino. Hurlbut instead advocated research into Altered Nuclear Transfer [ANT] which would produce cell groupings from which stem cells could be extracted.
Panelist Robert Streiffer, professor of philosophy and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, favors embryonic stem cell research and denied that ANT made an ethical difference.
Clive Svedson, professor of anatomy and neurology at the University of Wisconsin, said few of the embryos currently in frozen storage would ever be born. He said it was better to use them for research then incur the cost of storage.
(via The Wheeler Report) ¶ 12/07/2006 07:59:00 AM
William Hurlbut, a professor in the Neuroscience Institute at Stanford University, told an audience at Union South on Tuesday that human embryos are, by their very nature, living beings, and he argued that scientific stem cell extraction procedures that destroy these embryos are immoral.
Which aligned him in the debate with the Catholic Bishop of Madison, William Morlino. Hurlbut instead advocated research into Altered Nuclear Transfer [ANT] which would produce cell groupings from which stem cells could be extracted.
ANT works by suppressing the gene CEX2, Hurlbut said, which allows for the organization of cells after fertilization.
Panelist Robert Streiffer, professor of philosophy and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, favors embryonic stem cell research and denied that ANT made an ethical difference.
Streiffer also refuted Hurlbut's claim that a suppressed cell grouping does not constitute an embryo, saying that it simply creates a "disabled embryo."
"A developing fetus that has a genetic abnormality that prevents it from developing fingers is not capable of developing as a complete integrated living being: it's missing some parts. But it's still, of course, a living human organism. Nobody would think that the absence of some part results in the loss of all moral value," Streiffer said.
Clive Svedson, professor of anatomy and neurology at the University of Wisconsin, said few of the embryos currently in frozen storage would ever be born. He said it was better to use them for research then incur the cost of storage.
"We don't know if embryonic stem cells are going to work on these diseases yet," Svedson added. "That's why we're doing the science."
(via The Wheeler Report) ¶ 12/07/2006 07:59:00 AM
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When at first we attempt to deceive
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