Wesley J. Smith

There is a place in science for putting human cells in animals as a method of examining disease precesses and biological development, which according to this report is growing in frequency and potency. But what is the limit? Or to put it another way, how much human in an animal is too much human in . . . . Continue Reading »

I am beginning to receive comments on my cup. Some of the reactions read much more into my quote than I intended, and seem to miss the point I was trying to make. But that’s fine. The point of the “As I See It” program, as it was described to me, is to generate thought and . . . . Continue Reading »

The world of animal liberation continues to buzz with the potential that Spain will soon grant human-type rights to great apes. I weigh in on this issue in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, by pointing out that not only do animal not understand the concept of rights, but that granting rights to . . . . Continue Reading »

Wow. Researchers have been able to stop mice from developing Huntington’s disease symptoms by inhibiting an enzyme that works on a protein, that is responsible for destroying brain function. This is fantastic news and was published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell. This breakthrough . . . . Continue Reading »

Starbuck’s has an interesting program called, “The way I see it,” in which people who are somewhat in the public eye submit pithy bits of wisdom that are then printed on the cups (usually seen beneath the hot cup holders). I submitted one last year that was accepted. I just heard . . . . Continue Reading »

New Jersey is pondering weakening the medical standards for declaring death by neurological criteria, known popularly as “brain death.” The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners wants to permit one doctor, instead of the current two, to declare brain death. And, the doctor . . . . Continue Reading »

I give too little attention here at Secondhand Smoke to the anti-human minions of the Deep Ecology movement. Deep ecologists view human beings as vermin that afflict the earth, which many believe is a living entity called Gaia. This story illustrates the twisted mindset by describing the anti-human . . . . Continue Reading »

The Financial Times has a story (sorry, no link for non subscribers) that describes the intense fight that the European Parliament is apparently having over whether to fund human cloning and embryonic stem cell research. Consensus will apparently not be reached. The quote of the article by far is . . . . Continue Reading »

Nature is reporting that scientists may be close to creating a protein “elixer” that would regress adult cells to an embryonic pluripotent state. According to the report, “Doctors might be able to take a simple biopsy of cells from a patient and reprogramme them, using one set of . . . . Continue Reading »

Scientists have used adult human skin stem cells to treat rats with neurological disease. From an article published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neuroscience. . . . . Continue Reading »