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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (5880)	8/12/2001 6:01:38 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

Ought to read REMAKING EDEN by Lee Silver for the facts on the biological beginnings of life, including embryos and how they develop, cloning, stem cells, etc. From what I have read so far, foetus brains don't even exist until the 25th week of pregnancy and and then don't start working even on the most basic level until many weeks after, then the human brain and identity keeps developing until about 8 years old at which time it is fully aware of its self. But even an infant has a very primitive brain and no sense of self. Embryos have no brains at all and are biologically not that different from a cell you might scratch off when you rub your head. Silver also makes the point that all new advances are always greeted at first with abhorrence, but gradually over time become more palatable then finally accepted. Like in vitro fertilization (which even the Catholic Church now allows with a certain ritual attached). Human cloning is next. It seems abhorrent now but Silver offers the example 50 years from now where a single successful infertile woman (or lesbian) has a cell from her body implanted into one of her eggs and has it implanted into her uterus then delivers a lovely baby just like herself. Relatively simple process and can probably already be done. Is it evil? Well it sounds evil or at least twisted but apart from church protests think of this. Most micro-organisms clone themselves naturally, as do many plants. At life's begining we human embryos are not much different from a fruit fly or a tadpole. It's only as our embryo develops that it's changed by our DNA codes and starts to take on human traits, though the brain is last to develop. There will be fierce debate over this forever but one thing is clear, it will happen and it will happen with or without government or church rules. The question is why will it happen besides experimentation, who will want it adn where will it eventually lead us? I am not pro or con the issue just getting educated. Now it is clear to be that Bush's allowance of a few stem cell samples is just a damage control decision. Stem cell research and production will go right ahead and the souce material is definitely not yet human to any degree. Making some stem cell research illegal will just cause it to go offshore or underground. If you need treatment for some disease it can cure you'll just go to Mexico to get it, just like women used to go there to get abortions, and you'll pay a lot more under less safe conditions. And is there anything wrong with it? Not unless you think using embryos which haven't even developed minimal human characteristics is some kind of murder. And that brings up the question, besides consciousness are we that different from animals? Our livers for instance are exactly the same as those of mice just 1000 times bigger. And baboon hearts are nearly identical. It's really just the human brain that's different, though some species come close like dolphins, whales and apes. Even my dog seems to have an ego. gg Oh boy, this gets into too big a discussion with too many related questions which are impossible to solve. I'll quit here. But the mind boggles.