A company called Advanced Cell Technology announced the use of cloned embryos to harvest stem cells for research. For whatever reason, people have a problem with this. Even worse, politicians are moving to capitalize on ignorance.
There is no economic incentive to clone a human being in its entirety. Planet Earth has proven very adept at producing every useless organism it creates, including humans. There is economic incentive, however, to cure disease.
Diseases cost society tremendously. We could kill everyone with a disease but we don’t. We don’t because most people have figured out that disease rarely precludes the existence of heart, mind, and reproduction. Nobody wants disease in the gene pool but everyone wants to see more hearts and minds come out of the gene pool. Part of the solution is to let science do what it has to do to cure disease at the most fundamental level possible.
The mere thought of scientists fixing the gene pool and cloning humans conjures up images usually seen on the Hitler Channel (History Channel) and scares the piss out of people. Science, however, is not evil. Not when results are given to the public and open to criticism and analysis and repetition.
Religion does not open itself to criticism for the independent analysis of its findings. Ignorance is the most evil path of all.
Cloning embryos for cells doesn’t even register as an issue to reasonable people. The media wants readers and the zealots want attention.
Jesus would heal the sick. Taking his miracles as allegories, the clear message is that those who have the power to do good should not be selfish with their power. If the problem is about how much companies would charge for their power, that’s an entirely different debate. If the problem is about a ball of cells being human, go focus on something else.
