Wesley J. Smith

This is pretty inexcusable: As readers of SHS know, Texas is in the midst of a political battle to amend the futile care law to prevent patients, such as Andrea Clark, from being denied wanted life-sustaining treatment. Currently the law permits hospital ethics committees—meeting behind closed . . . . Continue Reading »

In this edition of Brave New Bioethics, I deconstruct the growing eugenic trend to cull embryos for gene defects, including those that could cause a propensity to adult onset disease. Check it . . . . Continue Reading »

Aldous Huxley was one powerful prophet. Back in 1932, in Brave New World, he warned us that in the future, rather than experience true emotions, humanity would instead opt for the feel good drug soma. (“Was and will make me ill, I take one gram and only am.”) Imagine: No more grief; no . . . . Continue Reading »

Thank goodness. An Austrian judge refused to appoint a guardian for a chimpanzee in a court case. From the story in Nature Network:An Austrian judge turned down a request this week to appoint a woman as legal guardian of a chimpanzee. The decision is a blow to a growing movement in Europe attempting . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the arguments made in favor of human cloning research, is that we need to be able to make cloned human embryonic stem cells in order to study disease processes. Frankly, this is the best argument for permitting cloning, rather than the CURES! CURES! CURES hype—which may well never . . . . Continue Reading »

My partially tongue in cheek headline is in reaction to a story—yet again from Brave New Britain—of embryo screening employed to prevent a child from being born who might contract adult onset cancer—in this case, of the breast. Look how fast we have gone from using genetic . . . . Continue Reading »

This poll, published by the Michigan Catholic Conference, asked 500 likely voters in Michigan, their views on human cloning. The results were an overwhelming repudiation of cloning human life.Not so fast, some might say. It is, after all, a Catholic-sponsored poll. But I believe the results are a . . . . Continue Reading »

Bone marrow stem cells have apparently been helping to repair injuries in horses for some time. They are about to be tried in humans now. From the Reuters story in the Washington Post (good for it):Stem cell therapy may be controversial in human medicine but in the world of horse racing it is . . . . Continue Reading »

This strong editorial written by mainstream bioethicist Jonathan Moreno and colleagues at the well-funded and very left-leaning think tank, Center for American Progress, call for the overturning of President Bush’s funding restrictions, giving several reasons for their call. The authors grouse . . . . Continue Reading »

The Development Concepts and Doctrine Center, an independent think tank within the UK Department of Defense, has issued a paper predicting the challenges of the future. It is wide ranging, dealing with climate change, anti-Americanism in the context of a rising multi-polar world, and the impact of . . . . Continue Reading »