Orphaned at Conception
Earlier this year, Dr. Robert Sparrow published a paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics entitled "In Vitro Eugenics." In it, Sparrow explores the possibility of creating generations of human beings in the laboratory.He explains that the stem cells from embryos could be used to make egg and sperm cells, which, in turn, could create more embryos.This would bring human reproduction into the laboratory not just for one generation, but for generation after generation. Sparrow explains that these embryos would be "orphaned at conception." They "would have no genetic parents: There would be no living ind...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - September 20, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Reproductive Technologies Source Type: blogs
The New Love Affair with Eugenics
One of the modern zeitgeists that scares me the most is the growing love affair with eugenics among the elite. Whether the masses are aware of it or not, elite ideas trickle down and infect our subconscious. More and more dropping from Ivory Towers are notes that say, "Eugenics is good," and "The problem last time was the state," and "Personal choice is the key to success." These days eugenics, which means "good birth" is being presented as a worthy endeavor as long as there is no coercion from government. Parental choice is paramount and we are told that if parents can choose what k...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - September 18, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Eugenics Source Type: blogs
Adult Stem Cell Company Working With The Vatican Gets Two NIH Grants
NeoStem, a New York adult stem cell company that has partnered with the Vatican to increase awareness about adult stem cells, has been awarded two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue their work.NeoStem works with what they call VSELs (Very Small Embryonic Like cells) which are adult cells found in the bone marrow that seem to be pluripotent, or able to become most or all of the cell types in the body.One of the grants is to study the effect VSELs have on skin wounds in mice that mimic symptoms of scleroderma. Scleroderma is an auto immune disorder that attacks the skin and other organs making th...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - September 18, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Adult Source Type: blogs
Back to School Insanity and Japanese iPSC Trial
School is upon us. With two now in high school, I am beyond swamped. Senior pictures, registration, try outs...oh my!To focus on the coming year and get a good start, I will be taking a couple weeks off of blogging.In the meantime, peruse this excellent article on the iPSC human trial starting in Japan. Yours truly is quoted throughout. From Catholic News Agency:Quest for ethical stem cells prompts moral questionsThe first human trials for the treatment of blindness using induced pluripotent stem cells has brought the hope of creating stem cell therapies that do not rely upon destroyed embryos back in the public eye.Howeve...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 28, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Source Type: blogs
SCNT Not the Only Type of Cloning
Back in May I wrote a piece for LifeNews on H.R. 2164, Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2012. This proposed legislation would ban all somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in humans. The point I wanted to make was that many times "cloning bans" do not actually ban the cloning of human embryos; they just ban the transfer of those cloned embryos to a womb for gestation. I highlighted that H.R. 2164 would actually ban all SCNT in humans for both reproductive and research purposes and urged pro-lifers to support it.Dr. Dianne Irving at LifeIssues.net took me to task for that piece. She has some good points. Her issue ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 21, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Cloning Source Type: blogs
UK Calls For Safety Above Profits in IVF Clinics
Could it be that people are starting to notice that the fertility industry puts parental desire and profits above the health and well-being of children? Looks that way in the United Kingdom. The Telegraph reports on a study to reduce regulation costs where the authors recommend that fertility clinics be required to report complications:Safety drive to stop IVF clinics putting profit before embryosAction on safety at IVF clinics has been ordered by ministers after a wide-ranging review of the fertility industry. An expert study raised fears that some clinics may be offering techniques that put the embryo at risk for t...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 19, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: IVF Source Type: blogs
You Are Sentenced to 1,000 Years
Just in case you haven't had enough of the "ethics" coming out of Oxford these days, here are more disturbing musings by Oxford ethicist, Rebecca Roache. You may remember Roache co-authored "Human Engineering and Climate Change" with Matthew Liao where they explore engineering humans to have cat eyes or to be smaller as a way to combat "climate change."On the Practical Ethics blog in a post titled "Enhanced punishment: can technology make life sentences longer?," Roache laments the "laughably inadequate" sentence of 30 years in prison for Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezol...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 13, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
Researchers Say Theyve Found Genes That Signal Risk of Autism
Autism researchers at the Autism Center of Excellence in San Diego have found a network of genes that they say signal a risk of autism. A blood test for this genetic signature for children as young as 1 year old is in development.From News.com.au:A GENETIC signature of autism in babies as young as 12 months has been identified for the first time, an international conference is to be told.A simple blood test is now being developed and may be available in one to two years, Professor Eric Courchesne will tell the Asia Pacific Autism conference in Adelaide today.This discovery really changes the landscape of our unde...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 12, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Testing Source Type: blogs
Hacking Medical Devices
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Barnaby Jack uses a mannequin equipped with an insulin pump to show the vulnerabilities of wireless medical devices.
Many people (until recently that included this writer) are not aware that medical devices like insulin pumps and pacemakers can be "hacked," that is remotely controlled by someone that should not have access to control the device. Such activity was made famous by Barnaby Jack, a New Zealand man who demonstrated to an audience that he could wirelessly hack an insulin pump from 300 feet away. He was able to make the insulin pump deliver a lethal dose ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - August 5, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Transhumanism Source Type: blogs
BioTalk, Episode 5: Human Cloning is Here
One of my friends, who doesn't really follow the biotech scene, said to me one time, "When you tell me to worry about it, I will worry about it." I replied, "Worry. Now."Human cloning is not coming. It is already here. It is time to stop pretending that this is a problem for our children and grandchildren. This is our issue to tackle.In the latest episode of BioTalk, Chelsea and I discuss the realities of human cloning and what we can do to stop it. (Source: Mary Meets Dolly)
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 31, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Cloning Source Type: blogs
Procreative Altruism: Lebensborn Reimagined
You remember Julian Savulescu, the Oxford "ethicist" who is telling parents that we are morally obligated to choose the child among many "possible children" that is determined by genetic testing to have the "best life." He wants us all to use IVF, whether we are infertile or not apparently, to create a batch of embryos and choose the best of the bunch based simply on their genetics. I have discussed Savulescu's wrong-headed, scientifically-suspect notion of "procreative beneficence" already.Of course, in our "right is wrong," "wrong is right," "wait...there i...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 30, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Eugenics Source Type: blogs
Reprogramming Adult Cells With Chemicals Not Genes
This is big news in the stem cell arena. Scientists from China have reprogrammed adult mouse cells to a pluripotent state with a few chemicals. Previously, researchers used genes inserted into the cells by an engineered virus which raised concerns about the safety of the technique for use in treating patients. But now these small molecules can cross the cell membrane without the aid of a virus and can reprogram the cell without the insertion of genes. The Scientist has the details:Scientists first developed the ability to reprogram somatic cells into pluripotent stem cellscells that could give rise to any of the bodys ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 23, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Source Type: blogs
Extra Chromosome Silenced in Down Syndrome Cells
Amazing news was announced in the field of gene therapy this week. Scientists in Massachusetts have taken the cells of a person with Down Syndrome and have silenced the extra 21st chromosome in those cells. The Guardian has the story:Scientists have corrected the genetic fault that causes Down's syndrome albeit in isolated cells raising the prospect of a radical therapy for the disorder.In an elegant series of experiments, US researchers took cells from people with DS and silenced the extra chromosome that causes the condition. A treatment based on the work remains a distant hope, but scientists in the field said the...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 18, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Genetic Engineering Source Type: blogs
France Lifts Ban on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
It is a common misconception in America that in the rest of the world, scientists are free to work with embryonic stem cells all they want, and that in the United States, we are "far behind" everyone else because of President George W. Bush's funding restrictions. That simply is not true. Unlike the U.S. that has no federal laws protecting human embryos, only restrictions on tax-payer funding for embryo-destructive research, both Germany and France had a complete ban on embryonic stem cell research. That is until France just recently lifted that ban. The only report I can find on the news is a video from Aljazeer...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 17, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Embryonic Source Type: blogs
Cloudy With a Slight Chance of Reason
I live in Washington State. Born and raised mostly in California, I am a transplant to the Evergreen State and find a lot about life here puzzling. We are one of the most liberal states in the Union. We not only have legalized gay marriage and marijuana use, but also doctor-assisted suicide,. We cannot have phosphates in our dish-washing detergent, but grandma can grow her own pot. And when she gets diagnosed with lung cancer, she can ingest a lethal prescription provided by her doctor.And Washington is way ahead of Obamacare. Health plans here have been required to cover birth control for years. Our state legislature has ...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - July 15, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Source Type: blogs
