Also, don’t forget to thank our farmers and ranchers for all they do to help our planet.
UK Scientists Clone 3-Parent Embryos
The back cover of Michael Crichton’s biotechnology thriller Next states:
Welcome to our genetic world. Fast, furious, and out of control. This is not the world of the future — it’s the world right now.
Sadly, the out of control genetic world is no longer limited to the stuff of science fiction, and hasn’t been for several years now. The latest: Using cloning technology, UK scientists created 3-parent embryos to “prevent” the inheritance of mitochondrial disease. I know I’m about a week late on getting to this story (I’ve been a very lazy blogger, in case you haven’t noticed!), but if you’ve only heard about it from a mainstream media outlet, here are a few things to keep in mind:
1. The scientists here manipulated embryos – tiny human beings – not eggs. Not too long ago the media collectively decided to replace the word embryo with “fertilized egg.” Nevermind the fact that after fertilization the egg is no longer an egg, but an entirely new and living organism. Essentially these scientists created life to destroy life to create “better” life – only to ultimately end up destroying that life, too.
2. They didn’t just create 80 3-parent embryos. For every 3-parent embryo that was made, two other embryos were created and destroyed in the process as this diagram from Rebecca Taylor illustrates (click to view larger image):
So, all together, we’re talking about 240 embryos- tiny human beings – created, used and destroyed in this little science experiment.
3. This is just the beginning! Most of the 3-parent embryos that were created were so mangled in the reprogramming process itself that they couldn’t even start dividing. Surely these scientists will be doing more research (and using more embryos) in order to get better results. And they are currently working with the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Authority, the UK body that licenses research on embryos, to see if they can someday be allowed to try to bring embryos created by this procedure to term. They also plan on seeking approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (source).
4. What I find most troubling about this whole thing is the fact that we don’t find out about this stuff until after the scientists put together and publish a report about their findings. Who knows how many more lives are being manipulated and destroyed like this in science labs all over the world (including right here in our own Country!!) right now that we aren’t hearing about?!
and, finally, I can’t stress this point often enough:
5. Trying to cure disease and limit human suffering is a good and noble cause, but, lofty goals and good intentions do not justify the use and destruction of innocent human life. It is not only the destruction of life that involved here that is troublesome, but also the very act of separating the creation of life from the marital embrace, even for the purpose of bringing about new life. It is contrary to the dignity of the child, the dignity of the spouses and their relationship, and Man’s status as a creature.
I’m glad to see that UK’s Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has called for an immediate halt to this kind of research and I hope they succeed. But, I can’t help wondering if it’s too late to do anything to stop this horrific kind of human experimentation. I mean, how long have we as a society universally allowed and even encouraged scientists to create life outside the womb so that infertile couples can have children? I just can’t see how, in the court of public opinion, this procedure – which, ultimately is about trying to create healthy, disease-free children – will be seen much differently, especially with such shoddy, inaccurate reporting.
Welcome to our genetic world, indeed.
Related: Why We Need to Ban Cloning, ASAP!!
TOB Tuesday: Called to Love
Just a short quote to (hopefully) inspire you on this TOB Tuesday, from Carl Anderson’s book Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body:
The human person differs from the other animals because his very existence is a response to a call to love, a call that evokes wonder in his heart and sets him on a quest for unknown horizons. (p.101)
A Rose for Christi
According to the latest figures more than 90% of babies pre-natally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted – never allowed to see the light of day – in the UK. I’d be willing to bet that the numbers here in the US are not far below that. Keep that in mind when you watch the sweet story of Christi Hockel (click image below)
This is why love should never be confused with pity.. I understand that there can be a good amount of fear and uncertainty when one gets a prenatal diagnosis they weren’t expecting. But the child should not be killed because of its disability (or for any other reason). Truly, children and people with Down syndrome, though they may have some health problems, are some of the happiest most joy-filled people in the world. And they spread that joy to everyone they come in contact with. Just read this beautiful testimony of the father of a boy with Down syndrome.
Still don’t think you could handle being the parent of a child with Down syndrome? There is another good and loving option:
Over 200 couples/families are waiting to adopt a child (children) with Down syndrome. If you wish to adopt a Down Syndrome child or wish to give the gift of a Down Syndrome child to a waiting family, visit The National Adoption Awareness Program website or call 1-888-796-5504. (h/t Rebecca Taylor)
Related:
There’s No Such Thing As the Perfect Child
Mr. Blue Sky “a ground-breaking film that explores the romantic relationship of a woman born with Down syndrome and a “normal” male, as perceived by today’s society.”
Don’t Have Sex, Kids, Cuz Babies Suck!
“You think being in school sucks? You know what sucks a whole lot more? A baby…”
That is seriously one of the print ads for an anti-teen pregnancy campaign from The Candie’s Foundation that has been getting some conservative/pro-life attention because Bristol Palin is one of its spokespersons. Here’s her ad, which is not much better:
First of all, let me just say that babies don’t suck. New life is always good and beautiful, even when it comes under less than desirable circumstances. And I just have to ask, what does this “babies suck” message say to those girls who do get pregnant (and aren’t fortunate enough to “come from a famous family”)? I suppose it could say adoption is a better option than teenage motherhood, but something tells me another “A” word is more likely to come to mind instead. In fact, several people I have talked to about the ad see it promoting abortion more than abstinence.
Look, I’m all for discouraging teen parenthood and promoting abstinence, but this campaign just isn’t a good way to do it, IMO. It is, as a friend of mine put it, so “shortsightedly negative.” There are better ways to encourage kids to abstain from sex than just trying to scare them into obedience with the horrors of teen pregnancy. Sure, they need to know the risks of sexual immorality, but, let’s face it, if there’s one thing teens like to do it’s take risks as they, for the most part, tend to think they’re invincible. Thus, they also need a good, positive and convincing reason to remain pure.
Oh, and about that “abstinence promotion”: I’ve seen this referred to as an abstinence campaign and even saw one person call Palin’s ad a “Chastity spot.” While the commercials are vague enough to be interpreted as such, that’s not exactly the message of the Candies campaign, which promotes both abstinence and birth control as a means of “avoiding pregnancy.” From the website:
The overarching message of our campaigns is ”…Pause Before You Play”: pause to think about your future; pause to think about consequences; pause to evaluate your relationship; pause to delay sex; pause to get a condom; pause to ask “why now?”
I hate to be such a “Debbie Downer” (did I just say that?!?!), but, while I suppose it’s nice to see the secular world NOT glorifying sex for a change, I’m still not impressed.
Westboro Baptist Lawsuit and Freedom of Speech
I hate to say it, but, as much as I love our military and think what the Westboro Baptist church is doing is totally beyond contempt, I think I agree with Megyn Kelly on this one. She brings up an excellent point (though Bill hardly lets her make it) about abortion clinic protesters and how this case could have serious freedom of speech implications. Plus, I just love it when people tell Bill he’s wrong.
TOB Tuesday: A Good Summary
Here’s a good video with Christopher West explaining the Theology of the Body for Pure Passion TV
Christopher West, Theology of the Body, Pt 1 S2E9 from Pure Passion on Vimeo.
Click here for part II. I’m not exactly sure what Pure Passion is, but I don’t think it’s Catholic – which is pretty awesome. This February West presented the TOB to a Christian “mega church” outside San Diego. You can listen to a podcast of his presentation (scroll down a few sermons to “Theology of the Body”) or directly download it here.
Previous post:
TOB Tuesday: A Protestant Perspective
TOB Tuesdays
Senses Begin in the Womb
Check out this awesome article on pre-natal sensory development:
Across the animal kingdom, senses come online in a very specific order that doesn’t vary much from one vertebrate to another. The first sense fetuses experience is touch. Then come the chemical-based senses—taste and smell. The ability to hear develops fourth. And finally, so late that many animals are born lacking it, comes sight.
Humans, with our relatively long gestation periods, are one of the few species that can see before we’re born. Not that there’s very much to see. The short answer to jackie31337’s question is, “Yes. It is, in fact, rather dark in there.”
“They can tell the difference between dim and very dim. That’s what they’d see if mom removed outer clothing on a sunny day,” said William Fifer, Ph.D., head of the fetal/infant development lab at Columbia University’s division of developmental psychology.
Scientists have watched fetuses on ultrasound turn their heads away from bright lights held up to their mother’s stomach, Fifer said. And they’ve seen the brain waves of premature infants spike in response to a flash of light, or a change in visual stimulus—switching a card from vertical stripes to horizontal, for instance. Sight isn’t much of a sense at this point, but it’s enough.
Enough for what? That’s where things get interesting. See, senses don’t work via some neurological “off/on” switch. It’s more like building muscle. You have to exercise to get results. The more you work out the new sense, the more neuron connections are formed and the sense improves. But if you don’t use it, you lose it. Literally.
Amazing. The article goes on to discuss how studying fetal senses has helped doctors better care for pre-mature babies: Read more. Notice, in the first paragraph quoted here, that the author says that touch is the first sense that fetuses experience. And, yet, we’re still having arguments about whether or not there is even a chance that an unborn child can feel pain when it’s being burned to death with saline, having its limbs torn apart or its brains sucked out.
Mapping In-Utero Brain Development in 3D
Do Babies Learn Language in the Womb?
Study: Memory Forms at 30 Weeks in the Womb
PP Gives Misleading Medical Information to Sell Abortion
The latest undercover video from Live Action Films:
Lord Have Mercy
For the last 37 years America has rejected God’s greatest blessing, the gift of life, through legalized abortion on demand and as a result roughly 50 MILLION children have lost their lives. Please join me in appealing to God’s mercy on our beloved country for the sake of our little children who are denied their first and most fundamental human right:
“Most merciful Jesus, I beseech You through the intercession of Your dearest Mother who nurtured You from childhood, bless my native land. I beg You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the hunger and cold they suffer. Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones, grant me the grace that I am asking of You for my country.” (St. Faustina, Diary #286)