Wesley J. Smith

I was asked by To The Source, a weekly on-line news letter with a decidedly “Judeo/Christian” bent that is distributed to more than 100,000 subscribers, to write about the Advanced Cell Technology hype and what it all means. Here is the result. I argue that the intense focus on obtaining . . . . Continue Reading »

Good for the Milwaukee Journal for publishing this column by Jean Peduzzi-Nelson, a medical professor at Wayne State University. Her point is that most of the advances coming in stem cell research are of the non embryonic variety.Peduzzi-Nelson also effectively punctures the reigning presumption . . . . Continue Reading »

This story is a perfect example of how euthanasia advocacy leads toward a pro-suicide mindset. A UK prison reformer advocates that prisoners who are depressed about their confinement have access to euthanasia. “”We have one life, it is our own life and prisoners should be able to end it . . . . Continue Reading »

I often criticize people who disagree with me in the biotechnology debates for misleading the public and playing political games. Integrity now compels me to point out that Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green is cynically attempting to harness all the hype surrounding Advanced . . . . Continue Reading »

There is an ongoing harassment and intimidation campaign to intimidate UCLA scientists away from conducting medical research with primates. One researcher has already been scared off. Another had an incendiary device left on his doorstep, which may have accidentally been left at the wrong house. . . . . Continue Reading »

Some radical feminists have supported euthanasia as a women’s issue since the days of the Suffragettes. I comment on this in today’s First Things blog, which deals with a story out of the UK that was covered here at Secondhand Smoke a few weeks ago. (You may have to scroll . . . . Continue Reading »

I frequently criticize the media in this blog and in my other work because we need a vibrant and accurate 4th Estate for democracy to thrive. And that is precisely what we don’t have today in some of the most pressing cultural and moral issues of the day.Here’s just another small example . . . . Continue Reading »

Now the Wall Street Journal has reported that the ACT big stem cell breakthrough was nothing of the kind. There is no link, so here is an abridged version, with a few of my comments in bold:“Controversy continues to build over a claim that biotechnology researchers produced stem cells without . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert T. Miller’s entry about Jenni Murray’s suicide pact is indeed worth noticing, but primarily I think because of a point he does not explore. In addition to not wanting to be a burden, Murray groused about not wanting to be burdened by having to care for her aging parents. Publicity . . . . Continue Reading »

Ramesh Ponnuru’s book Party of Death is reviewed in today’s New York Times. The reviewer Jonathan Rauch, predictably, discounts the book, claiming that for people in the middle of the abortion debate, it doesn’t have much to say. I don’t agree with that opinion, as my own . . . . Continue Reading »