Clear thinking, sound reason

That’s what you always get from Princeton Professor Robert George on law, bioethics, religion, culture, ideologies, or any other subject that comes up. One of the hot issues in Congress is the stem cell debate over three bills voted on in the Senate on Tuesday. And one of the best assessments of the core issue I’ve seen is this one by Robert George, written with Eric Cohen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.  Here’s a highlight:

Instead of engaging in fraud and coverup, or conducting experiments that violate the moral principles of many citizens, we should look to scientific creativity for an answer. Since the cloning fraud, many scientists have been doing just that. And others, such as Kevin Eggan at Harvard, may have found a technique, called cell fusion, that would create new, versatile, genetically controlled stem cell lines by fusing existing stem cells and ordinary DNA.

In other words: all the benefits of research cloning without the ethical problems. Looking ahead, it is becoming increasingly likely that reprogramming adult cells to pluripotency, rather than destroying human embryos, will be the future of regenerative medicine. It offers both a more efficient and far more ethical way forward.

While we’re thinking clearly and engaging in sound reason, let’s go to a couple of new pages on an already bountiful site. This one has straightforward language on ethics and life, and this one is filled with excellent resources. We can’t use the excuse that it’s too confusing anymore.