Fascinating talk on what is usually rightwing radio.

The station in my area usually runs Glenn Beck and Hannity and O'Reilly. On the weekends they do some quite well-produced medical shows. It's a nice weekend cooldown in that nobody's fighting.

The female host had a guest on from Missouri Baptist Hospital. I tuned in when they were discussing in vitro fertilization in the framework of women trying to get pregnant in their late 30's.

Apparently at the eight cell level, they can remove one cell to test its DNA. He said that each individual cell could potentially grow into eight seperate people. They said they can test for certain types of genetic diseases like Down's Syndrome. If the embryo -- for they are all fertilized embryos, the Doctor said the most he'd worked with is like 60 eggs in one menstruation which are all fertilized for potential reimplantation -- isn't viable, they do not attempt to reinduce the embryo. It essentially is left in the petri dish.

He did purport that the parents sometimes will decide to randomly donate unused but viable embryos to other fertility patient couples who are not able to conceive. He also said if not he would also hope that the embryos could be donated for stem cell research.

I am fascinated by this. At the eight cell level they can remove one cell? I didn't catch exactly what was said but the cell might be reinserted. This makes sense though, because this is the stage where twins would in certain cases develop. So it's a potential human, but it's not yet differentiated whether it's one or several people.

It is not a potential human. Calling it a Potential Human is making a judgement as to its future or what may be its future. That does not define what is in front of you. What it is can be described exactly It is a group of 8 cells, no more and no less.

Thom

which can become a human, or eight humans...ease up. The doctor said that there are fertilized embryos that are routinely discarded. The alternative is letting them freeze for eternity in a tank. He recommended that they be used for research or adopted. Isn't that a very moderate position to take? The point was that the decision was left to the parents. It's a very strong statement for the "safe, legal, and rare" philosophy.