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Why the concern about bio-ethics?
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Science bestowed immense new powers on man and at the same time
created conditions which were largely beyond his comprehension and
still more beyond his power.
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- Winston Churchill. Speech, March 31, 1949
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The Beginning of Life
Sperm enter the women's vagina, swim through the cavity in her uterus
and out through her fallopian tubes. It may only take 5 minutes to reach
the fallopian tubes and as little as another 15 minutes to reach the ovaries.
When the sperm penetrates the ovum "the egg reacts in a split second and
initiates a mechanism that prevents other sperm from penetrating. The
23 chromosomes from the male sperm combine with the 23 chromosomes from
the female ovum and a new human life is created. This single cell human
is call a zygote. Some 30 hours later the first cell division occurs (cleavage).
At the one cell stage it is easy but erroneous to make the comparison
to any other single cell in the body. The first single cell is probably
the most complex type of cell that is likely to be found anywhere as from
it derives the complex anatomy of the human being. A single cell from
the skin is not capable of doing this.
At about one week of life, at the blastocyst stage of about
128 or 256 cells, it implants into the nutrient lining of the uterus.
There only three days later, this tiny child sends a chemical-hormonal
message into the mother's body, which stops her menstrual cycle.
"Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that
conception [they defined fertilization and conception to be the same]
marks the beginning of the life of a human - a being that is alive and
is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this
point in countless medical, biological and scientific writings."
Report, Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary
Committee S-158, 97th Congress, 1st Session 1981, p.7
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"Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception."
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"It is an established fact that human life begins at conception."
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Professor H. Gordon, Mayo Clinic
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"It is scientifically correct to say that individual human
life begins at conception"
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Professor M. Matthews-Roth, Harvard University
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The DNA genetic signature proves that the unborn is human.
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The DNA indicates what kind of bodily form the adult is going
to take, even at the earliest stage the zygote is still human.
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Looks can be deceptive especially when we are not used it
but the DNA give unmistakable evidence
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If we watch the development long enough we will see the zygote
form into a more recognisable human shape.
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The zygote cannot develop in any direction, but only in a
way consistent with its internal structure or nature.
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The unborn does change into a human it only looks more human
to our eyes.
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Living things don't become different creatures when they
change their outward appearance.
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Living beings develop according to a certain physical pattern
based on the kind of creature they already are.
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The Principle of Biogenesis Proves the Unborn is a Human
Being In the 19th century, scientist Louis Pasteur among others disproved
the theory of the spontaneous generation of life.
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a
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maggots don't spontaneously spring from discarded meat.
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b
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mice aren't spontaneously created from piles of rags. Pasteur's
discoveries led to the principles of biogenesis, which states
two things
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a
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all life comes from pre-existent life
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b
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each being reproduces after its own kind
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The unborn is genetically distinct from her parents. Unlike
sperm and ovum, the zygote possess the inherent capacity to develop into
an embryo, foetus, infant, child, adolescent and adult. Though the sperm
and ovum are human cellular material they will never become human beings.
In the same way a severed hand is totally human but will never become
a human.
The zygote is a complete human being with the potential
to grow into an adult. The zygote does not have the potential to become
a human; she is a human, complete in every way. While she does not fit
the bill in respect of our perceptions of what a human should look like,
she is everything a human being should be at this stage of development.
The same comparison can be made between a newborn and a physically mature
adult.
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If a man loses reverence for any part of life, then he will lose
his reverence for all life.
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Where do "spare" embryos come from?
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1.
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From women seeking IVF or GIFT who are given fertility drugs
that produce large number s of eggs. All these eggs are fertilised
and only few can be replaced. The women are generally asked
if they would donate the "spare" embryos for research. Voice
for Life would suggest that the women are being subjected
to a form of exploitation and manipulation through this request
when they are in a vulnerable state.
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2.
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From women requesting sterilisation. In Britain it is practice
to offer fertility drugs to women making this request, if
they accept they receive free care at private clinics or are
jumped up the public waiting lists. In these cases the eggs
are never intended to be returned to the mother but are destined
for research.
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The fertility drugs administered to the mother will generally
make the lining of the womb less receptive to the implantation of the
embryo and contributes to the high failure rate. In 1993 the success rate
was shown thus:
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Number of contributing countries
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46
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Pregnancy rate/100 treatment cycles
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17.9
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Live birth rate/100 treatment cycles
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12.9
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It can be deduced that if 5 embryos were created in vitro
and it was normal for 3 embryos to be implanted then there is a 40% morbidity
rate at the outset and further 87.1% morbidity rate between transfer and
birth due to failed nidation and miscarriage. Expressed in another way,
if the 100 treatment cycles involved 3 embryos per cycle then the birth
rate to embryos created would be 12.9/300 or 4.3%. Therefore, it can be
seen that out of every 100 embryos created 95 will die. What other non-life
threatening procedure would a doctor undertake knowing that 95 of his
patients will perish?
We can compare these facts with the claim of an Israeli
scientist at the annual meeting of the European society of Human Reproduction
and Embryology in July 2003. The scientist claimed that eggs retrieved
from aborted foetuses would relieve the worldwide shortage of human eggs
for fertility treatments.
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Louise Brown (the first test tube baby) was attempt
104.
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The Australian Parliamentary Hansard records the following debate which
gives some insight into the underlying reason for IVF:
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Senator Harradine: you go on, on page 3 to say: There are
many scientific experiments that need to be undertaken on human
pre-embryos. There is no appropriate laboratory animal or sub-human
primate for many of these experiments, so great are the differences
between the species.
Could I ask you a direct question: How often has IVF been undertaken
on non-human higher primates?
Prof. Short: It has not been undertaken on gorillas because
gorillas are endangered species. It has not been undertaken on chimpanzees
because chimpanzees are endangered species. It has not been undertaken
on orang-utans because orang-utans are endangered species.
Senator Harradine: So you are able to do it on humans.
Prof. Short: We are not endangered.
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Claim:
Embryo research is required to improve the success of IVF. There is a
distinction between invasive research in which the embryo is destroyed
and non-invasive research in which the embryo is to be implanted into
the mother, notwithstanding that many embryos are destroyed even before
implantation can take place.
South Australia, Norway, Denmark have a ban on embryo research while Germany
bans all embryo research and bans the creation of spare embryos - only
sufficient eggs must be fertilised that will be replaced into the mother.
Claim:
Embryo research is needed to treat and eliminate congenital and inherited
diseases.
The Royal College of Physicians produced a report in September 1989 which
states "Most infants with congenital malformations and chromosomal disorders
are born to healthy young women with no previously identifiable risk factors.
Much embryo biopsy and pre natal diagnosis is done with the intent of
aborting a much wanted but affected embryo. The NZ Downs Syndrome Assoc
reports that generally 90% of mothers who have a positive test will make
a decision to terminate. This shows that the purpose of the test is abortion
related.
Other tests have included:
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1.
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Administering RU486 to eggs collected from women undergoing
steriliation, then fertilising the eggs and studying the resultant
embryos.
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2.
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Collecting live 4 month old aborted embryos, removing their
arms and placing same in culture and testing with thalidomide
to see why the drug caused such terrible deformities.
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3.
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During the 1969 International Population Union Conference
on the Scientific Study of Population it was stated that a
supply of embryos for research was considered an essential
ingredient in developing techniques to combat pregnancy.
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4.
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In the 14th annual report of the WHO Special Programme's
Task Force on Vaccines for Fertility Regulation, published
in 1985, the following statement is made " The embryo represents
an ideal target for attack since it comes into contact with
the maternal circulation at a very early stage in its development."
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Attempts to upgrade IVF babies prior to implantation will occur if international
moratoria on germ-line and zygote enhancement are no instituted and policed.
Already there is widespread sex selection by testing for the X & Y chromosomes
and the notion of children being gifts with all their strengths and faults
is being replaced with a consumer mentality that we can place an order
for the type of child that we want. There will is already an expectation
of designer babies or super babies. This ideology makes us les tolerant
of anything or anyone who does not measure up.
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