Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
The effect of this can be clearly seen in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Does anyone really think that without an independent and powerful Pope supporting them that the Polish people would have stood up to the USSR? Lech Walesa says that the Pope's support was key in the drive away from the USSR.
Originally posted by Mark Herschberg:
You're the only person I have ever seen argue this point of view. I don't know anyone else who feels that CS people must promote machines over man, or that business people must promote man over machines.
--Mark
Message from the Committee's Secretariat
On Thursday 12 February the media reported a the research of some Korean scientists, who claim that they have produced 30 cloned human embryos. The research will be published in Science, one of the world�s leading journals (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3480921.stm
).
The research is being conducted to create stem cell lines, which could be used to treated degenerative disorders such as Parkinson�s disease. Research has shown that stem cells can develop into a wide range of tissues. The cloning technique means that the patient would not reject the implanted cells.
Research on human embryos for therapeutic purposes (including cloning) is legal in the UK but regulated under a 2001 amendment to the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
What issues does the raise? Does this bring the prospect of reproductive cloning any nearer? Is there a danger that licences will be sought to export cloned embryos? Once out of the UK, it might be possible to take them to country in which they could be implanted in a woman�s womb?
Originally posted by Axel Janssen:
What does the anti-abortionists say about chinese policy?
As far as I know chinese couples are allowed to have 2 kids only. For 3rd, 4rth, etc. kid, they'll have to pay prohibitive taxes.
It appears that this policy has been really eficient to lessen population explosion problem, which still heavily aflicts lots of parts of the world. On the other hand, there are cases in rural China, where parents kill female babies, because they think its better to have son. This is against the law, but the law creates the context for this behaviour.
Are such laws ok or not?
Originally posted by Warren Dew:
I love it!
I would definitely prefer having been aborted to having been born mentally retarded, myself.
France's highest court of appeal has ruled that handicapped children are entitled to compensation if their mothers were not given the chance of an abortion. The ruling follows a case brought by three families with physically deformed children, who argued that if doctors had detected the foetuses' disabilities they would have had the pregnancies terminated.
Doctors and campaigners for the disabled have reacted furiously, describing the decision by the Cour de Cassation as an incitement to eugenics.
The ruling was a surprise because it upheld a widely condemned landmark decision - known as the Perruche case - which awarded a mentally retarded boy damages last year because he had not been aborted.
The case was widely described as establishing in law a disabled child's "right not to be born."