5. If elected, will you support legislative or regulatory measures to prohibit experimentation upon human embryos, at every stage of development? Embryos are in fact living, developing, individual human beings. This is scientific fact. All human embryonic experimentation is destructive, that is, the embryo is killed or dies as a result of the research. Euphemistically called “therapeutic” embryonic research always results in the death of the embryo. Embryos used in embryonic research are often obtained from IVF procedures which discard all but one or two of the embryos created. Research embryos are also deliberately created via other means for the sole purpose of being used for experimentation. In other words, tiny humans are deliberately created to be experimented upon and killed. Such experimentation upon humans, which is not intended to aid the humans being experimented upon, was condemned at Nuremberg and violates every serious principle of medical and scientific ethics. Destructive embryonic research sets a precedent and a principle that is impossible to limit to only embryonic humans and endangers any vulnerable humans, especially those who are cognitively impaired, from being preyed upon by exploitive researchers who have no concern for the lives of their human research subjects. Human embryonic stem cell research, which is all the rage in the medical research industry, has not produced ANY significant cures or medical advances to date. Billions of tax dollars are being spent on this research that investors and medical corporations themselves are mostly unwilling to invest in because of very uncertain profitable outcomes from such research. In the meantime, ethical adult stem cell research, which does not require the killing of embryos, is constantly producing astonishing advances. This form of research has far less interest for the medical industry because it does not require life-long use of costly anti-rejection drugs by those that may be helped by its possible discoveries. As well, it provides far less patent profits and other lucrative financial benefits for medical industry investors. See LifeSite’s Stem Cell page with numerous articles and news reports on this issue |