Science is reporting that one of the seemingly intractable problems facing ESCR has been the propensity of embryonic stem cells to cause tumors, may have been solved. Researchers in Australia believe they may have found a way to prevent tumor formation by encompassing the cells in seaweed extract, which animal studies seem to show prevents tumor formation.
If true, it is a remarkably imaginative approach. But that does not solve the moral problem. Tumorless embryonic stem cells remain ethically contentious since extracting them involves treating a nascent human organism like a crop to be sown and harvested. Moreover, there is good evidence that the “leftover IVF embryos that are going to be destroyed anyway,” will not be the primary source of ES cells in the future. The real agenda of Big Biotech and its university business partners/ideological allies is human cloning—first to obtain cloned embryonic stem cells, and later, for the sophisticated development of cloned later-stage embryos and fetuses using artificial wombs.
Lest you think I am alarmist, Missouri’s Amendment 2 permits embryos to be implanted, so long as the gestation does not enter the fetal stage of gestation (which begins at 8 weeks). New Jersey goes even further, permitting outright fetal farming up to and including the moment just prior to birth. Both of these measures could have easily prevented any implantation—but did not do so. Surely, this is not an accidental lapse.
Meanwhile, the federal fetal farming ban only prohibits implantation of embryos for research purposes in women or animal uteruses. That’s fine. But, I have always believed the fetal farming would be primarily conducted in artificial wombs, since such contraptions would permit easy access to the growing embryo/fetus for experimentation. P.S. Artificial wombs should be available for human use within ten years.
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