If you will all excuse a time out from our usual discussions here at Secondhand Smoke for a personal note: My friend Ralph Nader has a new book out and it looks to be a very special contribution from the man who has dedicated his life to civic engagement. It is called The Seventeen Traditions, and . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Time essay, about which I just commented, Steven Pinker uses the V-word to describe someone with profound cognitive incapacities. He really shouldn’t. None of us should ever use that word any more than we would the odious N-word for black folk, or the C-word for women. Even used . . . . Continue Reading »
We shouldn’t be surprised that Time magazine would allow the evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker to write about what science knows—or thinks it knows—about the phenomenon of consciousness. But the magazine also lets him move way beyond the scientific realm and a recitation of . . . . Continue Reading »
I wonder if PETA gets the irony? Its workers, who were accused of animal cruelty for euthanizing dogs and cats—some of whom were adoptable—and then dumping them into a trash bin, were found not guilty of that charge. Instead, the jury found them guilty of littering.Okay. But what does . . . . Continue Reading »
Anyone who asserts seriously that euthanasia/assisted suicide is “only for the terminally ill for whom nothing else can be done to alleviate suffering,” just doesn’t want to see the writing on the wall. We have seen euthanasia for the depressed approved in the Netherlands by that . . . . Continue Reading »
I have a letter in today’s NYT about “Ashely’s Case.” Here it is:“A Disabled Girl’s RightsPeter Singer (‘A Convenient Truth,’ Op-Ed, Jan. 26) supports subjecting ‘Ashley,’ a profoundly intellectually disabled girl, to surgical and hormonal . . . . Continue Reading »
The Swiss assisted suicide facilitating organization Dignitas, has issued a euphoric notice to the death on demand crowd with news that a Swiss court has apparently accepted that the group can help kill the mentally ill as a matter of human rights. I have seen the below quoted memo from two separate . . . . Continue Reading »
Comes now the International Society for Stem Cell Research with its “Guidelines for the Conduct of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research.” Par for the course, it is almost anything goes that can be done today—including creating new embryos through IVF fertilization for use in ESCR, . . . . Continue Reading »
I keep saying it and saying it: Most biotechnology is ethical and exciting. And here is a great example: A former U.S. Marine whose arm was amputated, had implants placed in her brain that help her manipulate a prosthetic arm. But there’s more: “Now doctors have re-routed the ends of arm . . . . Continue Reading »
Increasingly, it looks as if China is harvesting organs from unwilling Falun Gong and others for sale on the open market. Canadian human rights activists David Kilgour and David Matas have issued a second report, this time including interviews with organ recipients. I haven’t read the new one . . . . Continue Reading »
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