This article from the Texas A&M newspaper describes the medical research with “knockout” mice, or mice that have a specific gene turned off. The University’s Texas Institute of Genomic Medicine , part of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences specializes in developing knockout mice strains using embryonic stem cells from mice embryos, which … Continue reading
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have finalized and published their Ethics Statement # 385. It looks like they ignored the ruling from the Department of Human Services on Conscience — or believe it will soon be overturned. The ACOG pdf is set so that it is not possible to copy and paste … Continue reading
>Here’s a great review about those new “induced pleuripotent stem cells” (iPS) we’ve been hearing about. iPS’s are truly “patient specific stem cells” since they come from the patient himself or herself. The cells are manipulated in the lab, using viral particles and specific environments to make the able to become many different types of … Continue reading
>My own first child is a little older than Louise Brown, the first child born from in vitro fertilization (IVF). This incidental pioneer celebrates her 30th birthday this month, calling for reviews and editorials on what her birth has meant to culture and to individuals, such as this one from the UK’s Telegraph. It’s good … Continue reading
From WebMD: “We don’t need any eggs or embryos at all,” says Shinya Yamanaka, MD, a professor at the Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences in Kyoto, Japan. Yamanaka describes his lab’s early successes in mice creating stem cells from adult cells. His research involves isolating two dozen chemicals that give embryonic stem cells their ability … Continue reading
Maybe I should have called this column “I smell a rat.” All this fuss and bother that Sam Berger is making in today’s blog.bioethics.net “Guest Column” over the lack of federal funding of embryonic stem cells had me following links and searching Google half the night in an effort to decide whether or not Berger’s … Continue reading
Glenn McGee, one of the editors, pseudoeditors and bloggers over at the American Journal of Bioethics blog, Blog.Bioethics.net, posted a portion of his column, “The Kavorkianization of Dolly” for The Scientist. Subscription is required for The Scientist, but you can read part of the snide column on the blog.bioethics.net site (or here). It may be … Continue reading
Next will come the call for the purposeful creation of funding for disease-specific embryos. These embryonic humans are not dead. They were chosen and frozen because they looked promising for future attempts to fill the empty arms of their mothers and fathers. SB 810 authorizes the use of tax money to pay to thaw, nurture, … Continue reading
Besides abortion, destructive embryo research, and complete sexual freedom for teens, I wonder how many other moral issues are judged, “Regardless of its ethical correctness . . .”? As it is, I wouldn’t want someone that goes around acting “regardless of ethical correctness” for my doctor or even an employee. The ethical correctness is the … Continue reading
If I wanted to study disease through embryonic stem cell research, I’d imagine that I would want to study only those with the disease or susceptible to the development of the disease. How many of the chosen, frozen embryos are likely to be diseased? This is just one of the questions you need to ask … Continue reading