Wesley J. Smith

“Kill the bill, not the ill!” was the demonstration chant a few years ago against a bill to legalize assisted suicide in California. Now, like a virus that won’t go away, assisted suicide advocates are once again trying to transform assisted suicide into a “medical . . . . Continue Reading »

It stuns me sometimes how utterly ignorant media can be about human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. Not only does ignorance drive bad public policies, but it can be harmful. The Joplin Globe committed both journalistic sins in this ludicrously bad Joplin Globe editorial about attempts to . . . . Continue Reading »

Context. Context. Context. As editorial writers wax eloquent about how assisted suicide would just be about “choice” and managing one’s own end of life, story after story is being reported about how those on the margins are abused, neglected, and marginalized.This is one such awful . . . . Continue Reading »

Scientists are reporting that the wide size variety in dogs is caused by variations in but one gene. From the story in the Telegraph: Ranging from toy to giant, dogs have the biggest size variation of any mammal and the team of US and British experts believe it is due to variations in one gene.After . . . . Continue Reading »

Of course they are adult stem cell derived. From the CNN story:Cytori (down $0.02 to $5.62, Charts) is planning to launch its first stem cell medical device in Europe this year, said Eric Daniels, senior director of business development for the company, with a market debut planned for Spain and . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the most insidious and selfish arguments of assisted suicide advocates is that pain control hastens death so that it is no different than assisted suicide. This can keep patients from accepting aggressive pain control and doctors reluctant to prescribe it. Pain control experts, such as my . . . . Continue Reading »

My post yesterday about the lawsuit in Austria to grant a chimp the rights of personhood, linked to this post from 2005 about a chimp being issued a writ of habeas corpus in Brazil. That old post was, in turn, linked on science.slashdot.org, resulting in thousands of visitors to SHS, and many . . . . Continue Reading »

Stories like this terrify the disability rights community—and with good reason. The message is that the lives of people with profound disabilities are of less value than those of others. In this case, an Australian couple murdered their disabled son, Matthew Sutton, who was blind and . . . . Continue Reading »

In this Brave New Bioethics podcast, I return to the mendacious Feinstein-Hatch pro cloning bill (S. 812) that pretends to outlaw it by redefining the term “human cloning” from an accurate scientific approach into a junk biology political definition. As I point out, you can call a . . . . Continue Reading »

I recently spoke at Gonzaga Law School about the animal rights movement. I trust a good time was had by all. Now, I find out that it isn’t just animals that are supposed to have rights, but nature itself (herself?).This was sent to me by a friend about an upcoming event at Gonzaga: Rights of . . . . Continue Reading »