I have to say I am a little uncomfortable with this ad.


Maybe it’s the idea that as the congressmen weren’t “scientists or doctors” they didn’t have a right to what is essentially an ethical opinion. That you have to have a considerable background in medical science before you can say what you feel is wrong or right, is a really disturbing argument that seems to have some currency in the pro side of the debate. That’s not to say that you don’t take in views and evidence from scientists and doctors, but just that once you understand the process, it becomes a very difficult ethical dilemma even for those who aren’t evangelical christians. I did a course on bioethics and I still don’t know which side I’m on with certain types of stem cells, I’m just hoping that something will come out of this research into adult stem cells, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more work done in that area.

Maybe I’m just uncomfortable with this style of political lobbying and how dirty the whole system is in general - even when your causes have good intentions. Maybe it would have felt cleaner if they focussed on opinion polls, from what I gather most Americans support the research, though I don’t know about those constituencies in particular.

Anyway, sometimes I wonder how much any of this matters, to quote Keynes, “in the very long run we are all dead”. Nature has her own ways of combating population imbalances and the more we combat one disease, the more we’re likely to end up with another more horrible one. Who knows maybe we’ll all be dead of bird flu in twenty years.

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