Clipmarks | Silkweaver's 'bioethics' clips

The End of Aging - Still a Controvertial Vision

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:28:41 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Leon Kass and his friends are contemporary incarnations of an Orwellian nightmare. Besides "War is Peace", I hear also "Death is Life".

Of course there are no known social good coming from the conquest of death, we never lived in a social system that conquered death. How could we possibly know? But Kass and his friends, seem to have some privileged knowledge we do not possess, and they already decided for us as individuals and as a society. Well, in time, I believe, they will have the choice to walk their talk. All I want is a chance to walk mine.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

In his non-fiction Amazon bestseller, Ending Aging, Aubrey de Grey, champions recent progress in genetics and calorie-restricted diets in laboratory animals that hold forth the promise that someday science will enable us to exert total control over our own biological aging and substantially slow down the aging process.

Dr. de Grey

believes that the key biomedical technology required to eliminate aging-derived debilitation and death entirely is now within reach —technology that would not only slow but periodically reverse age-related physiological decay, leaving us biologically young into an indefinite future—is now within reach.

Leon Kass, the former head of Bush's Council on Bioethics, insists that “the finitude of human life is a blessing for every human individual”. Bioethicist Daniel Callahan of the Garrison, New York-based Hastings Centre, agrees: “There is no known social good coming from the conquest of death.”

Tags: aging, life extension

British lawmakers back animal-human embryos for research

Tue, 20 May 2008 10:35:53 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: "I believe that we owe it to ourselves and future generations to introduce these measures and in particular to give our unequivocal backing, within the right framework of rules and standards, to stem cell research," Brown wrote in the Observer.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

British lawmakers voted against a bid to ban the creation of animal-human embryos for medical research Monday, despite critics including the Catholic Church charging the move was unethical.

The House of Commons was voting on the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill, potentially the biggest shake-up of laws affecting sensitive areas like stem cell research and abortion for nearly two decades.

An amendment that would have outlawed the creation of hybrid embryos, which can ensure a more plentiful supply of stem cells for use in research into treating conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, was defeated by 336 to 176 votes.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who wrote an impassioned defence of the move in a Sunday newspaper, and David Cameron, leader of the main opposition Conservatives, were among those opposed to the ban.

Tags: bioethics, ethics, stemcell therapy

Genetically modified human embryo stirs criticism

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:50:29 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: It is definitely unacceptable to try it when it is unsafe. It is definitely worth trying when it will be safe. It will be safe eventually, our job meanwhile is to create an adequate ethical framework that will allow the harnessing of this future technology to the benefit of all humans and other beings.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

AP) -- News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it's a step toward creating "designer babies."

The idea of designer babies is that someday, scientists may insert particular genes into embryos to produce babies with desired traits like intelligence or athletic ability. Some people find that notion repugnant, saying it turns children into designed objects, and would create an unequal society where some people are genetically enriched while others would be considered inferior.

The study appears to be the first report of genetically modifying a human embryo. It was presented last fall at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, but didn't draw widespread public attention then.

"We're not even close to having that technology in hand to be able to do it right," she said, and it would be ethically unacceptable to try it when it's unsafe.

Tags: biotechnology, bioethics

Sperm From Skin Becoming a Reality?

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:19:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: sciencenow.sciencemag.org

In as little as 5 years, scientists may be able to grow eggs and sperm from ordinary body cells, an international consortium of scientists and ethicists announced in a consensus statement yesterday. The technological advance could be a boon for infertile couples as well as for research on reproduction, providing policymakers don't ban the tools, the group says.

Both supporters and critics of stem cell research are already talking about the possibility that gay and lesbian couples might be able to become biological parents with these techniques.

The consortium, known as the Hinxton Group, warns that "oversight structures" need to be in place before anyone attempts to deploy such gametes in human reproduction. Such a development raises a host of concerns that include safety issues and the specter of the "ultimate incest"--the same person supplying both egg and sperm.

At the same time, the group urges policymakers to be "flexible" in regulating the new technologies

Tags: reproduction, stem cells, biology, ethics, bioethics

British researchers create human-animal hybrid embryo amid political row

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:31:17 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

For the first time in Britain, researchers at Newcastle University said Tuesday they had created human-animal hybrid embryos, amid a political row over a disputed embryo research bill in parliament.

The revelation comes with British MPs engaged in a fierce battle over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which allows the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for medical research.

The government says that the scientific advantages of allowing the creation of hybrid embryos for research purposes could help millions of people to recover from illness or disease.

Religious leaders, however, have argued against the bill, with the leader of Catholics in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, using his Easter Sunday sermon to brand the bill a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life" which will allow experiments of "Frankenstein proportion".

Tags: biology, biotechnology, bioethics, hybrids

Scientists Apply for First Patent on Synthetic Life Form

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:33:43 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Without getting into the ethical implications which are fundamental and complex, This is an unprecedented step, a far reaching dangerous idea rapidly reaching its timely fruition, full of both positive potential and peril. Welcome to the 21st century We will really have to tread wisely and courageously here.

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Scientists Apply for First Patent on Synthetic Life Form

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute have applied for a U.S. patent on a minimal bacterial genome that they built themselves. According to the patent application, it's "a minimal set of protein-coding genes which provides the information required for replication of a free-living organism in a rich bacterial culture medium." The ETC group sent out a press release this morning which I have to say comes off as terribly alarmist

In an email, ETC group researcher Jim Thomas wrote:

We think these monopoly claims signal the start of a high-stakes commercial race to synthesize and privatize synthetic life forms. And Venter's company is positioning itself to become the ‘Microbesoft’ of synthetic biology. Before these claims go forward, society must consider their far-reaching social, ethical and environmental impacts, and have an informed debate about whether they are socially acceptable or desirable.

Tags: biology, synthetic life, bioethics