The news about the Obama administration's action on human embryonic stem cell research was not surprising, but a bit otherworldly. Imagine a president of the United States who claims that by taking action to permit the murder of preborn human embryonic children, he is actually protecting science from politics! Oh yes, indeed. Here is the quote:
When President Obama lifts restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research today, he will also issue a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence, officials said yesterday.
Further,
Although officials would not go into details, the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy to "assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public," said Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Harold Varmus is about as aware of what a high-quality scientist is as my daughter's puppy is – and that is a fact. For those who are not aware of Mr. Varmus' background, the record is enlightening. For starters, Harold Varmus used to be the director of the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. During the initial battles over the ethics of using human embryos for research of any kind, Professor Dianne Irving wrote a paper on the subject of scientific fraud, in which she shared the following insights on the infamous Varmus:
In reference to this strictly scientific question, I would point out that for years there has been a great deal of pure scientific obfuscation used to ground both the "human being" and the "human person" arguments in the bioethics literature. Most recently, the official statements of the White House and NBAC [National Bioethics Advisory Committee] similarly and directly reflect the "scientific" mantra of other more explicit official statements of NIH and its chief scientist, Dr. Harold Varmus. Those official statements can now be included in that obfuscation.
In the case of the official and explicit statements of Dr. Varmus, for him to knowingly and purposefully testify before a subcommittee of the Senate of the United States that a human embryonic zygote (he uses the term, "the product of fertilization of an ovum") and all its developing stages up to the blastocyst stage, are just "totipotent stem cells" (i.e., just "parts") which only have the "potency" to become "a mature human organism" – but even then "only if it is implanted" – is, I would argue, patently scientifically false and thoroughly misleading.
There is a fine line between scientific obfuscation and scientific fraud, and I think that fine line has been crossed over and over again in these issues.
It is clear that during the entire debate regarding human embryonic stem cell research, it has been dishonest language that has persuaded the majority of Americans that the direct killing of a human embryo is not the same as directly murdering an innocent human being. These preborn children, who are human beings from the instant their lives begin, have become dehumanized by the language of folks like Dr. Harold Varmus and his cadre of manipulative scientific “experts.” And now that Varmus has a compatriot with the power of the White House behind him, only God knows what evils lurk in the scientific research to be pursued by "the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs."
Even "highest-quality" is a purely subjective term, and in this case, a deadly one as well. Of that, there is no doubt.
This most recent bombshell from the Obama White House will have reverberations around the world as the march toward dehumanizing anyone who is not already born continues. In the process, one is left wondering if Americans will ever actually wake up and pay attention to the sleazy manner in which Obama’s henchmen are selling their wares. I have my doubts.
As the president said yesterday,
In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values… In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research – and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly.
President Obama has equated murder with "sound science." Further, he has used the term "moral values" in a way that suggests his total disdain for those who insist on calling things by their proper name. In other words, his insatiable thirst for death continues, and it disturbs us greatly.
How can this be when the man in question claims to have "faith"? What sort of faith is it that concurs with the idea of robbing innocent persons of their very lives for any reason, including false claims of treatment for other persons?
We at American Life League reviewed his administration's public announcement, and we had to pause and reflect on the semantics:
Today … we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers, doctors and innovators, patients and loved ones have hoped for, and fought for, these past eight years: we will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research.
Obama has ignored the enormous body of evidence that shows the success of research using adult stem cells, cord blood stem cells and the like, while he favors research that has yielded no positive results for the development of treatments for serious illness.
Dr. William R. Prather, R.Ph, MD, a registered pharmacist, as well as a board certified internist and geriatrician, was apparently not among Obama’s advisors. According to World Net Daily, Dr. Prather
told WND there is a "very good chance we will never get an FDA-approved product from an embryonic source."
Prather has decided not to work with any corporation involved with embryonic stem cell research, preferring instead to devote his energies to companies advancing adult stem cell therapies.
He currently serves as senior vice president for corporate development for Pluristem Therapeutics Inc., a publicly listed bio-therapeutics company dedicated to commercial medical applications of adult stem cell therapies applied to a variety of severe nerve and autoimmune disorders where current medical therapies are unavailable or inadequate.
"In order to be defined as an embryonic stem cell, those cells by definition form tumors, called teratoma tumors," Prather said.
We agree totally with what Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said upon hearing of the most recent in the long chain of Obama’s evil decisions,
Embryonic stem cell research is a destructive and outdated method that has become a holy grail to political and scientific activists who seek no moral restraints on their work. President Obama's order places the worst kind of politics above ethics — politics driven by hype makes overblown promises, fuels the desperation of the suffering, and financially benefits those seeking to strip morality from science. It is politics at its worst. (emphasis added)
