Stem Cell Savior or Mad Scientis

Stem Cell Savior or Mad Scientist

Sometimes the worst ideas are born out of good intentions. The film Pearl Harbor comes to mind. At idea that seems solid and potentially beneficial for all involved yet in reality and execution it often falls flat on its face.

Dr. William Hurlbut is potentially trapped in this scenario. He is trying to bridge the gap between those in favor of stem cell research and those opposed. Though his research he believes that there can be a compromise that makes both sides happy. So far he’s only caused to make everyone uncomfortable.

Dr. Hurlbut original plan was to quote Wired News’ Kristen Philipkoski,

“…using human cloning technology, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, to join a human egg and genetically altered human tissue. The result of this "altered nuclear transfer" would not be an embryo, he said, but a disorganized mass of human cells. Nevertheless, the proposal left some critics with the image of a ghoulish bundle of teeth, eyes, fingers and various human organs.”

Story location:
Wired News

How can a “Ghoulish bundle of teeth, eyes, fingers and various human organs” be a compromise? No one wants to recreate the last moments of the wicked witch of the west’s last moments in the name of science. This can not be a good idea.

Just a few more quotes from Wired News.

"Repugnant and weird,"

- Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer

"It's a kind of pollution of the human genome."

- Paul McHugh, chief of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital

"Morally creepy."

- Michael Sandel, a Harvard University professor of government

Yet the good Doctor Frankenstein…err, Hurlbut is undeterred. His new attempt is designed to use the same process but lower the “yuck factor”. When an experiment can elicit the “yuck factor” from other scientists, I think you have a pretty good idea whether or not you should continue.

Check out more about Dr. Hurlburt here and here