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 [...]
In explaining why the federal government will allow embryonic stem cell research, Health Minister Anne McLellan said "These are surplus embryos. You know what happens to them? They go in the garbage." That is hardly true and certainly should never be true. But examine the logic of the health minister's words and you see a callous disregard for human life. The choice [...]
How many Canadians do you think know the nature of the procedures involved in assisted reproductive technologies and in vitro-fertilization? How many Christians, or other generally pro-life people, do you think understand the nature of these procedures? Well, I don't know the details either, but I am thinking particularly of the abortion/murder-related implications. About a year ago, an evangelical monthly magazine published [...]
Liberal, Alliance and Bloc Quebecois MPs on the House of Commons health committee accused Canadian Institutes of Health Research president Alan Bernstein of pre-empting Parliament when it announced funding guidelines for embryonic stem cell research in March, about two months before federal Health Minister Ann McLellan was expected to introduce legislation outlining experimental and reproductive technologies legislation. The CIHR guidelines permit federal [...]
U.S. President George Bush named University of Chicago ethicist Leon Kass the chairman of his President's Council on Bioethics in August. The events of Sept. 11 delayed the naming of the other 17 members, who were finally revealed in January. The list is controversial in some circles, because it is more conservative than previous presidential bioethics councils. The members include such nationally [...]
Right to life observer finds panelists prefer to discuss science over ethics On Feb. 1, York University's Bethune College held a Stem Cell Symposium, attended by about 200 students and a smattering of professors. The science of stem cells was presented with clarity as the six-member panel examined this exciting new ground of regenerative medicine. But despite giving lip service to the [...]
Liberal MP Paul Szabo (Mississauga South), an outspoken and active pro-life parliamentarian, has written a book on The Ethics and Science of Stem Cells. Szabo told The Interim he wrote the book "To promote discussion among parliamentarians and the public about this very important and timely topic." It was distributed to all MPs and senators and is available to anyone who requests [...]
It has been tried and tested, has failed every time, and yet we still insist on trying it again. Xenotransplantation, or animal to human transplantation, may sound very beneficial, but there are many controversial issues surrounding it. There is no mystery as to why. xenotransplantation has not been in the news only recently. In 1964, six patients received kidney transplants from chimpanzees. [...]
Third World de-population has been U.S. strategic policy since '74 Top-secret files recently declassified from the National Archives of Australia, despite government opposition, has revealed that one of the fathers of modern biotechnology and genetic engineering advocated using biological weapons against Indonesia and other "overpopulated" countries of South-East Asia. Australia's The Age reports that world-famous microbiologist Sir Macfarlane Burnet recommended in a [...]
The announcement that the Canadian Institutes for Health Research will fund embryonic stem cell research is bad enough, because such experimentation depends upon the destruction of tiny human beings at their earliest stage of development. There can be no forgetting this abomination. But the problem is made worse when an agency of the federal government, run by unelected bureaucrats, makes laws on [...]
LifeSite News Famed Canadian singer Celine Dion has revealed that she is intending to implant the frozen embryo she had created through in-vitro fertilization. In an announcement on ABC's 20/20, Dion revealed that she is returning to the stage next year, performing five nights a week for three years at Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas for a reported $100 million. After [...]
A recent episode of the CBS prime-time legal drama Family Law explored the controversial subject of stem cells. Titled "Arlene's Choice," the program's lawyers represent a mother five months pregnant who wants to induce delivery early. She wants to obtain stem cells from her newborn to save the life of her eight-year-old son, who is dying of aplastic anemia. However, the baby [...]
Dolly the sheep is the poster child for cloning. But researchers are now discovering flaws in what appeared to be a huge success – the five-year-old sheep has developed arthritis in early middle age. The diagnosis was announced in January after the animal began to limp. "We have no way of knowing whether this is due to cloning or not," said Ian [...]
‘The best pro-life news I've heard in 13 years,' says pro-life leader The province of Quebec has announced a ban on all destructive research involving human embryos. David Cliche, Quebec's minister of state for science and technology, unveiled new guidelines on ethical research Jan. 10 in which the creation and use of stem cells extracted from human embryos (resulting in the death [...]