New hybrid embryo laws could allow scientists to carry out controversial stem cell research using hybrid human-animal embryos in the hope that it will speed up treatment for cancer and conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Motor Neurone Disease.
MPs are to vote over the next couple of days on a series of reforms to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which are aimed at updating laws in line with scientific advances.
Opponents say it is tampering with nature and is unethical. I think the positives far outweigh the negatives, that this kind of research will be conducted under the strictest criteria, and could lead to the discovery of much needed new treatments.
Just ask a sufferer, or their family, of one of those diseases what if feels like to be “a hostage in our own body”, which is how one young man with Parkinson’s described it today. He would willingly try any medication if it would free him.
We have been “tampering with nature” for many years. It’s not natural to have a test tube baby, but scientific research broke those boundaries.
We do not know if this research will provide a miracle cure, but shouldn’t we at least try and find out? It could be us one day in need of it.
Maybe but the thought of one of those hybrid embryos being stolen from a lab and implanted in some poor animal/mad woman is what is repelling.
WW, Of course, I agree. It’s a tricky call, but I still believe the positives outweigh the negatives. Our scientists have so much power today which enable us to make nuclear bombs, but this doesn’t stop us developing nuclear technology and my son has benefited from nuclear medicine.
That’s true. It couls well be us that need it.
I hope they vote them all through; research into these terrible affliction is important.
I, too, hope and pray that they will vote this through. My mother died from Alzheimers and it’s such an insidious disease that is painful not only for the sufferer, but also for the family who watches their loved one slowly disappear right in front of them. If anything is possible to cure or prevent diseases like this, then I’m for it – under, as you say, strict criteria.
The whole reason we don’t ask sufferers or whatever is that they can only see things from their own perspective, their need is understandably too great and inevitably too selfish. If I had a relative with Alzheimers then yes, of course I would be in favour. But we need to take a broader and more balanced approach.
Not sure that is actually what happens, mind you.
Fascinating.
I, too, have watched someone die from a dementia-related illness. But, like your last commenter above, I believe that in this position we are too close to the situation to make a rational judgement. Those Labour MPs who voted against the gov last night act as a safeguard, really.
Taking a balanced and detached viewpoint – we all have to die of something.
Harsh I know, but how many diseases and ailments do the scientists wish to eradicate? How long a lifespan do they wish to create for homo sapiens?
Don’t we already agree that in the UK we have a pensions crisis, our populations is already getting older and the birth rate is falling.
How far do they intend to drive these longevity policies?
[…] Ask sufferers of Alzheimer’s about new research […]
[…] involving embryonic stem cell research is being voted on in the House of Commons. Although the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is under threat by Catholic Labour MPs, support for it comes loud and clear from Gordon Brown […]