Wesley J. Smith

One of the attractions of religion for many people is that it offers the promise of immortality, if not of the body, at least of the soul. Today, many boosters of biotechnology and transhumanism are offering the same thing—but not tending to believe in the soul, they suggest that it can be . . . . Continue Reading »

Another interesting poll result from the Virginia Commonwealth University (see previous post for link), has to do with the public’s perception of science. “Question 3: Scientific research these days doesn’t pay enough attention to the moral values of society.” Fifty-six . . . . Continue Reading »

This poll taken by the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) demonstrates that most people still oppose human cloning for biomedical research (and, of course, as a means of reproduction). While majorities support embryonic stem cell research, which was sold successfully to the public as only . . . . Continue Reading »

Woo-Suk Hwang, the Korean human cloner, is forming the World Stem Cell Foundation that intends to circumvent the bans some nations and U.S. States have on human therapeutic cloning. The idea is to do the cloning in friendly areas and then cell the cloned stem cells in locales where cloning is not . . . . Continue Reading »

I was flying home from a speaking gig in Kentucky yesterday and at Chicago/O’Hare, I purchased a Sunday Chicago Tribune. There, on the front page, was a great story on the power of umbilical cord blood stem cells to treat terrible diseases. Good for the Tribune. As I have written previously, . . . . Continue Reading »

I posted an entry at Secondhand Smoke a bit ago about a tremendous breakthrough in which adult stem cells have apparently successfully treated serious liver disease in humans. Michael Fumento adds more details here. And, he points out, the mainstream media has all but ignored the breakthrough, since . . . . Continue Reading »

The threats from animal rights activists against animal control workers have grown so extreme that Los Angeles is paying for special security for them. For example, a smoke bomb was set off in the apartment complex where the head of LA’s animal control department lives—a crime . . . . Continue Reading »

Readers may recall a disgusting case awhile back of a man who died while having sex with a horse. It turned out that there is no law against bestiality in Washington, and I was peeved because supporters and opponents of proposed legislation there to outlaw bestiality were missing the point that . . . . Continue Reading »

Ever since the human cloning debates began, some bioethicists have chided the former chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics for having worried decades ago that IVF might pose risks to the children created thereby. Kass was wrong about IVF, they thunder, and he is wrong about cloning, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Washington Post deserves credit for running this thoughtful piece by Patricia E. Bauer, a journalist and mother of a disabled child who worries that we are seeking to eliminate the disabled by never permitting them to be born—all in the name of preventing suffering, of course. Bauer . . . . Continue Reading »