Category: Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics

Bioethics 2016: Winners and Losers
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Bioethics 2016: Winners and Losers

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by on Jan 13, 2017 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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Each year at this time we look back over the past twelve months with an eye toward identifying those whose lives and work actively promoted and affirmed a truly human future, and those who did not. Winners: Stephanie Packer is more than a winner; she really is a hero. Sitting down with her while making […]

Self-Regulation Science Doesn't Work
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Self-Regulation Science Doesn’t Work

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by on Aug 04, 2016 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Science
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Scientists love to give themselves “ethical guidelines” — only to “reevaluate” and revise those guidelines when they are no longer convenient. A perfect recent example of this came this May when scientists in two separate studies reported keeping embryos alive, healthy and developing for 12-13 days. In both studies the embryos grew autonomously and began […]

Why Everyone Should Oppose Surrogacy
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Why Everyone Should Oppose Surrogacy

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by on Jun 01, 2016 in Catholic Bioethics, Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Featured, Reproductive Technology, Women
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I am an outspoken critic of gestational surrogacy, in which the gestational mother carries a child to term for another person or couple. I have noticed that many people do not understand the stakes in this issue. Pro-life people think, “Gosh, surrogacy makes babies, how can that be bad?” Feminists think, “Gosh, surrogacy allows people […]

Fetal Tissue Research: What Really Works May Surprise You!
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Fetal Tissue Research: What Really Works May Surprise You!

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by on May 13, 2016 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Featured
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Once again the practice of using aborted preborn babies for their body parts and tissues has made the news. This time the reporting is based on a sickening congressional letter addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and signed by 98 members of Congress. The letter references recent hearings conducted by the House Energy […]

The Biological Arms Race No One Can Win
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The Biological Arms Race No One Can Win

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by on Apr 28, 2016 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Podcasts
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I have been going to physical therapy a lot this past year. One kid has had two knee surgeries, another a shoulder injury, and my back has finally decided that having four kids wasn’t so good for it. I spend a good amount of time getting to know the people that work there. There is […]

Genetically Engineered Language: Propaganda Colors Public Perception
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Genetically Engineered Language: Propaganda Colors Public Perception

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by on Apr 01, 2016 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
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A recent headline in the United Kingdom’s Independent shouts that the first genetically modified human embryos could be created in Britain in just a few weeks. The article by Steve Connor reported that scientists have submitted a proposal to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the government’s fertility regulatory body, asking to edit the genes of […]

U.S. Panel OKs Three-Parent Embryos with Sex Selection
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U.S. Panel OKs Three-Parent Embryos with Sex Selection

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by on Feb 09, 2016 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
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Last week a committee of scientists and ethicists have recommended to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that they approve three-parent embryo techniques for use in IVF in the United States. The committee calls it mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRT) because the goal is too “replace” defective mitochondria in woman with mitochondrial disease so they do […]

The Seductive Siren Song of Genetic Enhancement
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The Seductive Siren Song of Genetic Enhancement

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by on Jan 26, 2016 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
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Two recent magazine covers together give us a glimpse of the possible future of humanity. They seem completely unrelated. Next to each other on a coffee table, most people would never make the connection. Yet they are inextricably linked, jointly warning us to take action before it’s too late. The first, which appeared on the […]

Modest but Meaningful Protection from Human Embryo Genetic Manipulation
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Modest but Meaningful Protection from Human Embryo Genetic Manipulation

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by on Dec 31, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Science
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Genetically-manufactured babies, gene-manipulated human embryos, human-animal chimeras, human clones—all science fiction, right? No, these various types of laboratory-manufactured human embryos are already reality. Last spring, Chinese scientists announced they had experimented with genetic manipulation of human embryos, and scientists in the U.S. want to join in the experiments, also recently approved in law in the […]

It’s Time to Become Pro-Life 3.0
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It’s Time to Become Pro-Life 3.0

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by on Dec 03, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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For the last few years, scientists have been warning us that genetically modified children are just over the horizon. Rumors have been flying around that laboratories are already using a revolutionary new gene-editing technique called CRISPR to try to change the genes of human embryos. Advanced gene-editing techniques like CRISPR hold great promise for treating […]

Scientific Moral Regress
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Scientific Moral Regress

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by on Sep 17, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Science
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More scientific progress? In the wake of news videos about slicing up and testing the remains of aborted babies, leave it to leading scientific researchers to continue to push the envelope.  The Hinxton group (a group of stem cell researchers, policy wonks, and bioethicists) is calling for reopening the debate over altering the DNA of […]

Science Run Amok
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Science Run Amok

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by on May 07, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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Sometimes reports impacting respect for the dignity of the human person appear to have been written by Rod Serling, creator of the 1950’s television series The Twilight Zone. For example, in China it is reported that scientists are editing the genomes of human embryos. The research has been roundly criticized by Marcy Darnovsky of the […]

The Law of Human Nature Still Exists
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The Law of Human Nature Still Exists

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by on Apr 15, 2015 in Catechesis, Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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Is there anything so wicked as a man trying to silence his conscience?  It is a willful act that happens in stages: Bit by bit, incident by incident, rationalization by rationalization, the voice of a man’s conscience can be stifled—that still small voice within him eventually becomes fainter, until his heart turns to stone and […]

Silence on Three-Parent Embryos is Deafening
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Silence on Three-Parent Embryos is Deafening

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by on Mar 04, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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I will be honest. I am tired. I am angry. I am frustrated. This is likely an uncharacteristically emotional post because, after nearly a decade of writing about biotechnology, I am uncharacteristically horrified. The UK has officially approved the creation of embryos with three genetic parents, and babies created with this technique are likely to […]

Four Things You Can Do To Help Stop the Creation of Genetically-Modified Kids
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Four Things You Can Do To Help Stop the Creation of Genetically-Modified Kids

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by on Feb 20, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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At a time when more and more people are becoming wary of generically-modified foods in their diet, the United Kingdom is poised to begin creating genetically-modified children with the genetic material of three people, two women and one man; a genetic combination that could not occur naturally.And the way the UK goes, the United States […]

A New Year's Resolution for You
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A New Year’s Resolution for You

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by on Jan 07, 2015 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured, Reproductive Technology, Science
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New Year’s Resolutions tend towards the personal: lose weight, take up a hobby, spend more time with the family, get up earlier, read great books, etc. But this new year I beg people to take some time to learn more about bioethics. The stakes are high. Our definitions of life, death, and human dignity are […]

The Future of Reproduction
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The Future of Reproduction

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by on Nov 25, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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Last week the New America Foundation hosted a conference on “The Future of Reproduction” in Washington, D.C. Despite a few exceptions, the event was pretty much one large cheerleading session in praise of reproductive technology. A few highlights: Dan Kois, co-Host of “Mom and Dad Are Fighting,” Slate’s parenting podcast, offered praise of preimplantation genetic […]

The Contending Opinions on Three-Parent Embryo Safety, Part I
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The Contending Opinions on Three-Parent Embryo Safety, Part I

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by on Nov 20, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology, Science
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In our long stride toward the inevitable designer babies, the first manipulation has been the noble goal of creating babies free of the mitochondrial diseases carried by their mothers. This series will examine the issue rather thoroughly in four basic segments: 1. The basic cell biology involved. 2. The problem of defective mitochondria. 3. The […]

Today's Three-Parent Kids Are Not the Same As Tomorrow's Three-Parent Kids
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Today’s Three-Parent Kids Are Not the Same As Tomorrow’s Three-Parent Kids

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by on Oct 01, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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Many people are not aware that there are already about two dozen kids in the United States that have been genetically modified. A recent headline exclaims that “The World’s First Genetically Modified Babies Will Graduate High School This Year.” This is true.Nearly 2 decades ago, Dr. Jacques Cohen of the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and […]

<em>Divergent</em> Trilogy Tackles Genetic Engineering and Genetic Discrimination
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Divergent Trilogy Tackles Genetic Engineering and Genetic Discrimination

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by on Jul 22, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, On Books, On TV and Movies
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Warning! Spoilers Ahead!! Divergent is the latest of the teen dystopian future trilogies to hit the big screen. I have read all three books, Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. Is it not my favorite trilogy in this growing genre, but I know that teens everywhere love it. I do appreciate that Veronica Roth has tackled some […]

Musings of a Former Zygote
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Musings of a Former Zygote

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by on May 20, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Featured
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I am a former zygote. If you are not familiar with biology terminology, a zygote is the first cell that results when gametes (sperm and egg) fuse in sexual reproduction. I teach biology to homeschool students and we discover that many organisms begin as zygotes. Any organism that reproduces sexually starts as a zygote. Humans […]

If We Do Nothing, They Will Clone
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If We Do Nothing, They Will Clone

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by on May 15, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured
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Human cloning is here. After years of effort, scientists manufactured human life using the same process that created Dolly the sheep. There is no way around it: The age of human cloning is here—unless we act now to prevent it. Why outlaw human cloning? As the United Nations General Assembly decided in a nearly 3-1 […]

Asexual Human Reproduction
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Asexual Human Reproduction

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by on May 01, 2014 in Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Featured, Reproductive Technology
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Today the phrase “from the beginning of his/her biological development” accurately defines when the life of an individual human being begins to exist; the terms “conception” or “fertilization” do not. We have learned this is so because the fact is that not all human beings begin through sexual means; some are reproduced asexually. This concept […]

Our Risen Lord Gives us Strength to Build a Culture of Life
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Our Risen Lord Gives us Strength to Build a Culture of Life

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by on Apr 29, 2014 in Catholic Bioethics, Cloning, Embryo Research & Genetics, Contraception & Abortion, Disability, Sickness & Suffering, Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide, Featured
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If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Romans 8:31) This exhortation by Saint Paul vividly expresses the full extent of the love of God the Father and […]