Wesley J. Smith

The Economist has a dopey editorial about “gene doping” in this week’s magazine. It is along the lines seen so often in our debates about culture and biotechnology, paraphrased as “we are already on the slippery slope, so we might as well enjoy the ride,” or “the . . . . Continue Reading »

Washington State columnist Angie Vogt has written a good piece that pierces the dark heart of assisted suicide advocacy to reveal what lies beneath the paeans to compassion and choice. From her column, “Assisted Suicide is a Dying Movement:” Nihilism: A philosophy that argues that life . . . . Continue Reading »

Even the animals apparently have had enough of PETA . . . . Continue Reading »

Once one accepts the premise that suicide is an acceptable answer to the problems of human suffering and ennui, there are no boundaries that will hold for long. Example: EXIT is apparently getting ready to assist the suicides of elderly people who are tired of living—announced by an assisted . . . . Continue Reading »

Critical Care Medicine, the journal for intensive care doctors, has published a study (no link available) of the Texas futile care law (Crit Care Med 2007 Vol. 35, No. 5), which allows hospital ethics committees to order unilateral termination of life-sustaining treatment, and only gives patient . . . . Continue Reading »

One of benefits of human cloning, we were told, would be the ability to clone someone with a disease like ALS (Lou Gehrig’s in America, motor neurone disease in the UK and elsewhere), to obtain stem cells from the embryo for disease study. Indeed, before he decided to abandon cloning in favor . . . . Continue Reading »

Readers of SHS will recall the home invasion of the Santa Cruz cancer researcher who enraged animal rights fanatics for experimenting on lab rats looking for a cure for breast cancer. There hasn’t been much news from there lately, until now. New threats are being made. From the story: There . . . . Continue Reading »

This is a tale of two stories: I have long said that what I call the “egg dearth” will stymie the drive by biotechnologists to engage in human cloning research. That is happening now, and the scientists are none too happy about. And, as I predicted, the push is on to permit buying eggs . . . . Continue Reading »

We have been told repeatedly over the years that IVF babies are just as healthy as those conceived naturally. Well, it looks like things are not going as well as we were led to believe. From the story: IVF children are also at an increased risk of being born prematurely and of weighing less at . . . . Continue Reading »

Our friend P. Michael Conn, Associate Director and Senior Scientist of the Oregon National Primate Research Center, was interviewed on the radio about his fine book The Animal Research War. (Before the interview begins, the hosts discuss the best time to eat sushi and the genetic makeup and . . . . Continue Reading »