Too complicated, don't understand the stem cell debate, boring...blah...blah...Controversy abounds down-under with the “Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Amendment Bill 2007” going through the State Parliament. If passed, therapeutic cloning will be legal. It's not about bringing back King Tut (well, not at the moment anyway.)
Archbishop Barry Hickey in Perth is under fire for saying Catholic politicians supporting stem cell research should be refused holy communion and be excommunicated...
Cardinal George Pell in Sydney, has warned of consequences from the church if Catholic politicians supported the Bill...
Minister Nathan Rees called Pell “a serial boofhead...” (yup an eloquent and articulate pollie)
What’s the fuss all about? It all about embryonic stem cell creation and therapeutic cloning. There are many types of stem cells but embryonic stem cell is causing the concern. Embryonic stem cells are the most flexible, the plasticine or play dough of stem cells, as they can easily be made to change into something else.
As an example, Genghis drinks too much and his liver is a little worse for wear......
We take an egg and fertilise it...
The DNA is then removed and Genghis' DNA inserted..
About 5 days later the egg becomes a Blastocyst (an early stage embryo).
From this Blastocyst, one of the little balls is extracted (called an inner cell mass)...
From inside this ball, stem cells are sucked out...
and placed in a plastic laboratory culture dish and encouraged to grow into new liver tissue...
...to be transplanted back into Genghis so he can enjoy a couple more years of booze.
The million dollar question NOW is...... whether a 5 day old egg is a young human being, and taking it apart for its stem cells is just not right.
In FUTURE, dare we even consider the unimaginable, returning the egg (with Genghis' DNA) back into the womb. Have your say...
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