Beyond the ‘yuk factor’

WILL the carping of stem cell opponents never cease? First they insist their opposition to liberalisation of the laws governing embryo research is grounded in concern about women being exploited for their eggs. Then, one by one, they misrepresent and then reject every scientific alternative proposed to find alternative sources for such eggs.

Senator Kay Patterson’s bill has already been stripped of its provision enabling scientists to create patient-matched stem cells using animal eggs (one solution to claimed concerns about increased pressure on women to donate). Now Monique Baldwin (“Pro-cloning activists shroud the truth”, Opinion, 28/11) wants to deprive scientists of other means of generating pluripotent stem cells – those able to generate any tissue in the body.

Sure there is a “yuk factor” attached to the use of donated immature eggs from cadavers and female fetuses. But for most people, that is far preferable to Baldwin’s plan to cripple or kill Australian scientists’ pursuit of stem cell cures.

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Publication history

Beyond the 'yuk factor' The Australian
2006-11-29
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/letters/index.php/theaustralian/comments/beyond_the_yuk_factor/