Jonathan Clarke wrote:
> Hi George
>
> Of course Tito's flight is a very symbolic event (lucky so and so, wish I
> had a spare $20 million). Even here (and on the BBC) it rates highly -
> but as a science-tech story. the genetically modifed babies was front
> page headline news, more important that politics or sport.
>
> I agree, we need to emphasise theologically that GM humans, clones, etc,
> are fully human, fully in the image of God, and communicate this message
> to Christians, as well as non Christians. Otherwise we soon be accepting
> the existance of various classes of people, based on their genetic makeup,
> and treating them accordingly. But we need to then explain very clearly
> what we mean by the image of God, what we mean by the God given authority
> to humanity as stewards of creation, and how the issues of ethics and
> justice can be addressed to such complex issues (like, do a small number
> of women in the wealthiest country on earth really need to have their
> wishes for children gratified by application of highly expensive
> technology when millions die through preventable diseases?).
& I think especially to the point in this context is that some of
those millions are children who could be adopted by those wanting children,
thus
a) keeping them from dying, and
b) removing the need for some expensive & ethically dubious uses of
technology.
An article of mine of a few years ago, "Fertility Technologies and Trans-Kin
Altruism" (Journal of Medical Humanities 17, 195, 1996), makes this argument
in greater detail.
I am not saying that IVF, genetic modification, or even human
cloning should _never_ be done. But good reasons need to be given for such
use, and the desire of a couple to have a child which is a biological
descendant of one or both of them doesn't in itself constitute a sufficient
reason.
BTW, I'm told that there's an article in Science 292:397 (20 April
2001) by Parens and Juengst on the work on ooplasmic transfer (i.e., what
started this thread) but I haven't read it yet.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Dialogue"
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