Thursday, March 31, 2005

Is Cloning the same as Cloning or is it just Cloning

With Terri Schiavo's death being the focus of the prolife community, the passage of a cloning bill in Massachusetts' Senate has gotten little attention.

Boston.com has a story that illuminates the kind of outlandish rhetoric and psuedo-science that is being used to help pass this bill.

Some excerpts of the article:

Researchers are already conducting stem cell work in Massachusetts, but they fear that an ambiguous state law could be used to block their plans to begin cloning human cells to make embryonic stem cells.

Are they hoping to clone human cells or human beings? Since when do embryonic stem cells come from human "cells?" Have we discovered a new way to get embryonic stem cells without killing an embryo? Nope. We're just so dishonest that we can't admit that we're actually in favor of cloning human beings for the sole purpose of experimenting on cloned human embryos.

Proponents of the bill say that Romney is muddying the issue when he says therapeutic cloning is the creation of human life. The process involves taking the nucleus of a cell such as a skin, heart, or nerve cell and implanting it in a human egg cell that has had its nucleus removed.......Because the egg is never fertilized, supporters argue, scientists are not creating a human life.

So Dolly the sheep wasn't a "sheep life" because the sheep egg was never fertilized? All those other cloned animals like cows and cats are "cow life" or "cat life" because the egg wasn't fertilized with sperm? The fact that people actually fall for this baloney astounds me.

Some lawmakers are opposed to any kind of embryonic stem cell research, believing as the Catholic Church and other antiabortion groups do that an embryo is a human being, whether it is left over from in vitro fertilization or produced by therapeutic cloning.

That's right Bostonians. Only Catholics and anti-abortion groups believe that an embryo is a human being. It's not like it is an established scientific fact.

More scientific disinformation from the Washington Post:

Embryonic stem cells are widely believed to be the most versatile and therefore valuable for research purposes, but they are also the most controversial because extracting them destroys the embryo. Opponents, including some social and religious conservatives, also say the research could lead to the cloning of humans.

Could lead to the cloning of humans? That's what this bill expressly allows!

Backers of the bill said it includes many safeguards against abuse. It establishes penalties of as many as 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for scientists engaging in human reproductive cloning -- the creation of babies through cloning.

"Reproductive" cloning doesn't create anything. It's merely implanting the already created cloned embryos.

Another quote from a Yahoo article:

"That Gov. Romney would actually lock up those scientists whose life's work is to cure diabetes or Parkinson's disease is amazing," said Sen. Cynthia Creem, a Democrat.

Romney is unfortunately in favor of killing embryos from fertility clinics for research but is trying to stop his state from legalizing human cloning. The biotech companies aren't buying though. They want the whole pie.

It's "amazing" that Governor Romney is against human cloning? He must be insane. That loon. How dare he stop someone life's work (cloning I presume) when that life's work hasn't even begun. What has our country come to if a state's governor can be derided for not wanting to legalize human cloning in his state?

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