Oct 24 2006

The Truth In Missouri Comes Out Against Fox Ad

Published by at 4:59 pm under All General Discussions,Stem Cell Debate

Some very famous people are prominent in the response ad the Michael J Fox. The difference in this ad is it doesn’t make any wild scientific claims or promises, but does reflect facts. Like the fact poor women will be seduced into selling their eggs so scientists can create a child of theirs with some unknown male, only to sacrifice it for the stem cells. That is correct. An embryo can be most easily made by fertilizing the egg with sperm. There have been new methods developed to trick an egg into thnking it has been fertilized and transitioning into an embryo – the making of the clone. But this is still a young human. Either way you get to stage with the embryo, which if implanted and left alone will come to term as a baby.

The procedure to harvest the eggs is not risk free as the ad points out. The Bill doesn’t ban cloning (the process of creating a genetically identical human life), it apparently only allows for the destruction of that life.

I have been having a painful comment exchange with one of my most respected and longtime readers. It has been painful because the snakeoil salesmen had already made their sale and no amount of scientific fact seems will change the mindset now. The fact is people who would never think of snufffing out a life have been told they are not doing that when an embryo is destroyed or harvested. The only thing worse than the killing is the deliberate lying, the deliberate shading by professsional who could only earn their MD or PhD if they knew better. I am not sure if MJ Fox was tricked is being decieptful, but his illness did not instill in him a sudden brilliance that makes him smarter than the researcher he has paid and who determined Adult Stem Cell Therapies were a better solution to Parkinson’s disease, and that the Emrbyonic Stem Cell Therapies are still creating tumors as a side effect. [Note: you may get a security certifricate alert on the first, older article – it should not be a risk since it simply seems the site name is not consistent with the URL] Fox’s own highly paid expert is showing that Adult Stem Cells are more manageable because they are partially differentiated to a class of cell types needed to address diseases like Parkinson’s. Fox should listen to his expert. (My previous post on the MJ Fox ad is here).

7 responses so far

7 Responses to “The Truth In Missouri Comes Out Against Fox Ad”

  1. MerlinOS2 says:

    AJ

    I support you viewpoint and conclusions, however I also believe this is just another effort to use a sensitive issue as a wedge for value based voters since it is being exploited by several campaigns and commented on in the MSM.

  2. aj4erj says:

    “The fact is people who would never think of snufffing out a life have been told they are not doing that when an embryo is destroyed or harvested.”

    I just don’t understand this point of view. What is wrong will killing a few cells that are not conscious, have no self awareness, and can feel no pain or remorse? Because they have the potential to develop into an adult human? I just don’t see the logic. Can you explain it? Would you give the same rights to a pile of inanimate chemicals that could potentially be arranged into a human being? Skin cells that can be used in cloning have the potential to develop into humans yet we shed billions of these all the time. Is that a tragedy? Why not? I assume you condone the killing of conscious , feeling animals for food. Why isn’t that a worse thing to do than to kill an unconscious, unfeeling embryo?

    I’m wondering if you understand the difference between an embryo and a fetus?

    Do you also feel the same way about a fertilized egg as you do about a new born baby? Many people do not consider a fertilized egg to be developed enough to be considered a person.

  3. Nelle says:

    I started out as a fertilized egg, and I believe I had the right to my life from that moment on. Maybe part of the disconnect is that some of us really do believe that God gives life, and that no life exists apart from God-given life. If you don’t believe that, and think that fertilization is just a chemical process leading to other processes along the way to life, then we can’t ever agree. You think embryos can be killed for the sake of trying to help the sick, and we think that this is taking a life to save a life. But those of us who believe that human life consists of a body and soul, from the first moment to the last, aren’t trying to make embryonic research illegal. We’re just not willing to support it with our tax money. Why should the proponents have the right to force us to finance what is morally abhorrent to us?
    It’s going on. We don’t want to support it with our tax money. Why can’t we

  4. Barbara says:

    At what point is the decision that a fertilized egg is a fetus? And when does a fetus become a human being? Who is qualified to make this decision? The fact is that we all start out the same way, i.e. fertilized egg, fetus, baby, child. Science has come a long way in the last 25 or 30 years . Fertilized eggs have been formed and placed in the womb to become human beings. What is the difference between these eggs and the eggs that will be formed for stem cell research? I can tell you. The ones placed in the womb have the potential to become people and the ones formed for research will definitely be destroyed. There is no limit to man’s conceit in thinking anyone has the right to decree life or death for another person.

  5. Nelle says:

    …why shouldn’t we defend embryos when we don’t know of anything but time and nourishment that makes the difference between an embryo and a baby?

  6. The Macker says:

    AJ4ERJ,
    ” What is wrong will killing a few cells that are not conscious, have no self awareness, and can feel no pain or remorse?”-
    According to this definition of “humanness”, we cease to be human when we undergo surgery, or even go to sleep.

    “Would you give the same rights to a pile of inanimate chemicals that could potentially be arranged into a human being?”-
    No, unless that pile was marked with the “human”genetic code, identifying them as “human. You and I are thus marked and therefore “human.”

  7. BIGDOG says:

    Im that long time reader AJ is having a painfull discussion with. I have known about this initiative for about 6 months now and because i live in Missouri i have researched this subject. The initiative text has been read and researched by me. Im telling you human cloning is not the issue, it will be made illegal and a federal crime.

    In this instance SCNT is not a reproductive cloning process like (dolly the sheep), but only for research. I repeat NO FERTLIZATION is involved. Tricking eggs into splitting and becoming an embryo, after human tissue is added (somatic cell), is not cloning a human beings, its cloning cells…stem cells.

    This discussion and a huge rebutal posted by me is on the previous page of posts under the snake oil thread. Im not what some of you people called me and frankly hurt me to my core…nazi, babykiller, not educated and noone could talk points, just insults. I am i tad bit defensive right now because some of you let me down and attacked me. This is not how we discuss things. We are not stupid ass liberals….attack attack attack.

    heres a lil teaser:

    Somatic cells, by definition, are not germline cells . In mammals, germline cells are the sperm and ova (also known as “gametes”) which fuse during fertilization to produce a cell called a zygote, from which the entire mammalian embryo develops. Every other cell type in the mammalian body – apart from the sperm and ova, the cells from which they are made (gametocytes) and undifferentiated stem cells – is a somatic cell; internal organs skin, bones, blood and connective tissue are all made up of somatic cells….wikipedia.org

    Lets discuss this….. oh and Rush isnt telling you guys everything about SCNT either and is just as ill-informed as most here seem to be. No offense just my observation.