Wesley J. Smith

There has been a several year campaign by “Big Biotech,” cloning propagandists, and some disease advocacy groups, particularly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), to redefine cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Instead of using the accurate scientific . . . . Continue Reading »

It appears that progress is being made toward the treatment of spinal cord injury, with no moral qualms about the . . . . Continue Reading »

Mississippi appears on the brink of outlawing all human cloning. The vote was overwhelming, with only 4 opposed. Interestingly, the only quotes in this story on the vote are from opponents of the bill, so the reader has no idea why so many legislators supported the legislation. . . . . Continue Reading »

Euthanasia deaths in Belgium are rising dramatically, now “officially” at 400, up from 200 at the beginning of the killing program just a few years ago. But there also appears to be rampant underreporting, as in the Netherlands. The estimate in this story is that some 2000 patients are . . . . Continue Reading »

Awhile ago, I was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor about assisted suicide. The story, as originally written, then went on to claim that 84% supported the “right to die” in a Pew Poll. The 84% figure actually referred to the right to refuse unwanted medical treatment, which the Pew . . . . Continue Reading »

Woo-suk Hwang apparently used some public money given to his lab for research, to influence politicians. Thank goodness nothing like that would ever happen here. In the USA, science is merely an objective search for knowledge. It’s not as if the Science Establishment has mutated the pursuit of . . . . Continue Reading »

It seems to me that when someone suffers a serious illness or injury, the benefit of doubt should be given to life. This isn’t to say that life support should never terminated (although I certainly think it is immoral to remove a feeding tube based on “quality of life” . . . . Continue Reading »

I could spend all of my time here at Secondhand Smoke illustrating how media refuses to report stories about biotechnology accurately. But that would get old and there are many other things to write about. But this story is just too much: The AP has produced a story, byline Sam Hananel, that makes . . . . Continue Reading »

A UK woman named Maureen Messent has come forward to admit that she murdered her great aunt in the 1960s, stating she was right because the aunt, Eileen O’Sullivan, was near death from lung cancer. This is a typical apologia for euthanasia that appears regularly in the media, which are somehow . . . . Continue Reading »

There was a time when people who wanted to hurt themselves were protected from self destructive behavior. No more. Today, we facilitate self harm, as indicated by this story in which UK nurses want to distribute sterile blades to people who want to cut themselves. . . . . Continue Reading »