The Canadian Institutes for Health Research has shown blatant disregard for parliamentary prerogative with its announcement that it will go ahead and fund embryonic stem cell research, despite the fact that legislation dealing with the issue is currently before the House of Commons. The CIHR, a government-supported medical research agency, is tired of waiting for Parliament to act and will proceed to [...]
One of the most puzzling questions regarding stem cell research has been: why are researchers so hungry for embryonic stem cells, despite the controversy and dangers over their use, and at the same time, seem to be shunning non-controversial and much more successful adult stem cells? MP Paul Szabo, the resident expert on the matter in the Canadian House of Commons, posited [...]
Back in 1997, pro-life activist Cynthia Chauncey wrote a letter to the editor about Dolly, the world's first un-fathered sheep. "What is Dolly's real age?" she asked. "Does she start at zero like other newborns? Or is she the same age as her mother? More importantly, will they get the symptoms and ailments of old age at the same time? After all, [...]
There wasn't just cloning around happening when the Toronto chapter of the Raelian movement held a lecture on "Human Cloning: A Giant Step Forward for Humankind" in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education building at the University of Toronto Feb. 26. The movement, considered a cult by most, gained notoriety recently when it claimed to have produced five cloned babies through [...]
As if the March of Dimes's support for eugenics and abortions in cases of fetal abnormality were not enough, pro-lifers now have an additional reason not to give money to the the charity. The Eliott Institute has pointed out that the MOD refuses to admit that abortion is a major risk factor in the low birth weight of subsequent babies. In announcing [...]
A bi-partisan plan to ban reproductive, but not "therapeutic" or research cloning, will result in "the establishment of human embryo farms," according to the National Right to Life Committee. The bill, which falsely claims to make "human cloning a crime," was proposed by Senators Orrin Hatch (R, Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D, Calf) and would allow the cloning of human embryos while [...]
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered Dr. Ken Kan of Richmond to pay $325,000 to two separated parents, because he "failed" to diagnose that the unborn child had Down syndrome. The parents would have aborted their baby. It is only the second such ruling in Canada to date, but others are already before the courts. Lydia Zhang, the mother, 42, says [...]
If Bill C-13 were to be a pro-lifer's dream legislation, what would have to be different about it? What is the one thing that it needs to do but does not? This bill has caused an almost unbelievable level of confusion. It is easy to see that people who have no idea what right or wrong is would have a problem saying [...]
Stanford University announced in December it is creating an Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine. An anonymous donor gave $12 million to found what will be the first major institution in the country to produce human clones for medical research. Though Stanford's announcement was controversial, its plans are completely legal; although bills to ban cloning have made their way to Congress, [...]
The day after Christmas, Eve, the first human clone, was born. Or so claims the Quebec-based Raelian cult and its research subsidiary Clonaid. Within two weeks, Clonaid claimed that another cloned baby had been born in the Netherlands to a pair of lesbians. After generating much publicity, the family, the cult and Clonaid broke their initial promise to allow the child to [...]
Excitement is building in the world of stem cell research, with breakthroughs being announced regularly, if not daily. But why concentrate on both adult and embryonic stem cell research - or primarily on embryonic stem cells - when adult stem cells are proving to be more promising? Montreal Neurological Institute researcher Freda Miler says cells found in skin can form into nerve, [...]
In recent months there has been a great deal of publicity in the newspapers on the question of human cloning. As a pro-lifer I am against human cloning, but being neither a doctor nor a scientist I did not feel competent to express my sentiments in an appropriate language. However, the arrival of the March issue of Knights of Columbus magazine Knightline [...]
In the latest Star Wars film Attack of the Clones, a well-trained army of clone troopers performs brilliantly under pressure and saves the Jedi knights from almost certain defeat. In real life, however, the white-armoured clones of bounty hunter Jango Fett would likely suffer from arthritis, premature aging, mental defects, and other ailments if they had not already died in infancy, according [...]
Should scientists have a right in Canadian law to clone human beings? Yes, indeed, insists Abdallah S. Daar, professor of public-health sciences and director of the University of Toronto program in applied ethics and biotechnology; Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in health law and policy at the Health Law Institute, University of Alberta; Bartha M. Knoppers, Canada Research Chair in law and [...]
Charles Krauthammer is a Uruguayan-born, McGill University-educated medical doctor cum Washington D.C.-based political pundit whose work appears regularly in the American press. An ethnic Jew (it is unknown whether he practices) and confined to a wheelchair, he is a moderate conservative who has reservations about embryonic stem cell research. However, in the April 29 issue of The New Republic, he laid out [...]