Thou Shalt Not Create (washingtonpost.com)

Thou Shalt Not Create (washingtonpost.com)

This is interesting. . .Charles Krauthammer is on a board having to do with bio-ethics (a sort of funny thing. . if you know scientists. . .or knew my father, the engineer. . .my view of the typical scientist: amoral) Anyway, CK has interesting things to say about research and stem cells.

Apparently, the process to produce a stem cell is the same as cloning. The only difference is that the cloned cells are not allowed to continue to develop, but are torn apart.

So, despite the almost universal (except some scientists. . .remember?) hatred of cloning for "spare parts" and so forth, the world just "doesn't get it" enough to understand that they can't have embryonic stem-cells and not kill neo-blastocysts (or whatever the few-celled being is called at that point).

I know I'm showing my lack of formal scientific "power" here, but then my science is mostly electronics and physics. Bio science has been getting pretty distressing lately, and I think I must have seen this coming for a very, very looong time. I never really did like bio other than the cool "frog-killing" thing.

It seems to me that you just got to look at Hypocrates's: "First Do No Harm" philosophy even when engaging in microbiological research.

But then I'm such a goofus. . .

Chris

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