The Ethicality Of Stem Cell Research
Essay by 24 • March 9, 2011 • 1,956 Words (8 Pages) • 1,245 Views
The Ethicality of Stem Cell Research
Stem Cells and stem cell research alike are both a daunting and complex subject to the uninformed. The average American hears of the issue on a daily basis it seems вЂ" primarily the strife instigated by institutions with a “revivified” bioethical code. Yet, the average citizen has no idea, or any valid conception of what encompasses the study, or the true use of the cells themselves. Ask a person on the street, and odds are that the extent if their knowledge of the usage of stems cells will be something along the lines of “they’re extracted from human fetuses - that’s wrong!” Misinformation about the subject is spread more often than not. The media easily influences the public, because if it’s on TV, it must be true, right? Not to mention the countless religions that has mindlessly regarded the process as “murder”. A concept at stake, a concept with so much potential to benefit the human race, a concept being put on the path to nothingness for the wrong reasons. As a member of the human race вЂ" someone needs to take obligation to object this . What, who, how, and why - determines the ethically and legality of this practice?
In our country, a single voice matters. A lowly person with enough passion can change anything. Opposition is only there if you acknowledge it. Those who make the most difference find themselves alone among a crowd of silent followers who share the same ideals - yet lack the passion to speak of them. When dealing with adversary, as immense as a religious sect вЂ" intimidation is an intrinsic accompanist. Yet, few realize that this is the key to achieving persuasion. Those who blindly accept ideals from one can accept them from another. The weak-minded are the majority, and in America, majority rules.
Opposition from such a huge force, a force that has no other worthy competition вЂ" may seem futile, but as history shows, the smallest voices can have the biggest bark. On such a complex subject as stem cell usage, the task becomes even more demanding People are reluctant to accept complicated notions вЂ" rather, falling back to the secure and hypothetical beliefs. To get people to accept an idea, you must simplify it. The practitioners involved in the field of medicine have failed to do this. In a sense, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. Cutting indolence is an impossible task. The ideal in itself is paradoxical. The key to appealing to the indolent is to encompass their methods in distributing your message. You must twist your message to appeal of the majority.
The majority is controlled by a few. The American government has the universal authority in our country, infact, they literally decide the legality of stem cell usage. At current time, our president Mr. George W. Bush of the Republican Party is a conservative who is strictly against stem cell usage. His reasoning is based off his, and his collogues morality. What influences his morality is obvious, the major being Christianity. President bush’s record with stem cells is hazy, and full of indecision. He told the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that he believed ''taxpayer funds should not be used to underwrite research that involves the destruction of live embryos.'' Ken Conner, president of the pro-life Family Research Council, had said, "The president's own credibility and integrity are at stake here. Should he violate his pledge, the political fallout would be devastating.'' Bush is attempting to appeal to both sides, quite unsuccessfully. Without the support of pro-life Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants, President Bush wouldn’t be our president right now.
The lagging of America in the decision may be irrelevant now. The British government has already approved stem cell research, in 2001(Shapiro 138). This is simply how the debate is sided. Those who are pro, attempt to convince the millions that have thoughtlessly turned away, and shunned this potentious practice. Few have realized this method of teaching and influence; yet, it’s quite a valid ideal to appeal to the adversary. Many have made immediate assumptions, thought out hastily rash criticisms that possess no called backing вЂ" there is just so much propagandas information correlating in this field, it’s pathetic. Whose fault is it? Nobody’s this is the normal cause of human nature.
Information about the subject everywhere. Some places are more reliable than others, but for the most part, we can generally assume the media is incompetent on reporting on the subject. Watching the news, one can easily point out false facts that for
some reason, misreports love to repeat. For example, on fox news and CBS (two totally unrelated broadcasting organizations have repeatedly stated: “The extraction of stem cells is unethical. They are extracted from human embryos, sometimes as late as the second trimester of development” (Shapiro 236). The Statement was repeated on both stations in one day. Word for word. The medial community was in uproar; this was an embarrassment to their practice. This is just one example - there’re numerous facts that totally disprove the criticisms of the people that oppose it. Quite shamefully the primary source of opposition stems from the Catholic Church, the goal of pro-choicers should be not to criticize the church, but hope to spark initiative. The church should reinvestigate and scrutinize their conclusion.
But of course someone had to already notice the faulty thinking of the Catholic Church, right? This abominious senseless act couldn’t possibly go unnoticed by the people. After a search on a popular internet search engine for those who possessed a similar mindset on the subject, the product was astounding. Funny thing- first resource displayed was a website directed right at the Catholic Church вЂ" pointing out the facts in the hasty conclusion the church had made about stem cell usage(Vatican. Perhaps the world isn’t as oblivious as it seems. The site included an online petition that would be sent straight to the Vatican. They listed their reasoning, their science, everything. After surfing around the site some more, displayed in big bold letters “ALREADY SUBMITTED”. The Vatican didn’t even bother to look at it, despite the 138,000 catholic American churchgoers that had signed it. Mostly being Catholic students from private Catholic American schools in California, the petition had never even come close to being examined. An interesting new poll by Hart вЂ"
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