Bioethics the word sounds like old-fashioned medical ethics applied to new medical technology. Its the application of traditional philosophical or theological principles to the moral dilemmas created by, say, cloning or experimenting with new AIDS drugs, right? Not really.
Even human embryonic stem-cell research, the most morally problematic to date of all the new reproductive technologies, has a huge cadre of advocates who look to stem-cell therapy to cure a wide range of degenerative disabilities. That is where the brave new genetic world we have built on IVF technology starts to look scary.
Unbeknownst to most Americans, a small but influential group of philosophers and health care policy makers are working energetically to transform our nations medical practice and health care laws. So goes the introduction of Wesley Smiths book, The Culture of Death The assault on medical ethics in America. WorldNetDaily staff writer and talk show host Geoff Metcalf recently interviewed Smith about his book and the growing bioethics movement.
Please let this be a lesson to any and all who believe that they are not equipped to go up against some of the big names opposing us in our defense of the culture of life: Dont be intimidated.
Claims of Earth's uniqueness have been held up for ridicule ever since Copernicus. Now along come Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee to upset scientific orthodoxy. Earth, they claim, is no run-of-the-mill planet. We are "not so ordinary as Western science has made us out to be . . . . Our global inferiority complex may be unwarranted."
David Prentice, professor of life sciences at Indiana State University and an adjunct professor of medical & molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, explains why human embryonic stem-cell research is illegal, immoral, and unnecessary.
At press conferences today in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo, scientists will announce the completion of the Human Genome project. It is remarkable that, in less than a half century, we have gone from Crick and Watsons discovery of the structure of DNA to a basic map of our 100,000 human genes.
What is the position of the Catholic Church on organ donation for the purpose of transplant? What moral principles are involved? What would motivate one to be an organ donor?
I believe the Holy Father is right when he says that no fundamental conflict can exist between science and religious faith, whatever the appearance to the contrary.
While reading the newspaper in May 1999, I noticed a headline about an evolution controversy occupying the Kansas State Board of Education. I flipped the page without reading the story. Like many pro-life people, I felt that the origin of the species was a matter of God's choice of methods - but not a pro-life concern.
