Bush errs on the side of death and illness

EarlG ADMIN

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed May-25-05 08:39 AM
Original message

Bush errs on the side of death and illness

Here's the deal: Bush supports IVF, a scientific procedure which destroys thousands of embryos so a few children can be created by couples who could not have children. (Just a hypothetical question, but how is that NOT messing with God's will?) Meanwhile Bush opposes using any of the discarded embryos to try to cure diseases which afflict thousands upon thousands of already-living people. Furthermore, Bush spends billions of taxpayer dollars on war policies which have killed hundreds if not thousands of young children - call them "collateral damage" if you like - in his misguided and intangible mission to bring "freedom" to the Middle East.

Bottom line: Bush errs on the side of life, except in circumstances where the life belongs to someone who is already living. To put it another way, Bush always errs on the side of death and illness, except in situations where medical science can create life for well-off Americans who can't have children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/25/politics/25stem.html?hp&ex=1117080000&en=994c6b49e43dc0fb&ei=5094&partner=homepage

"President Bush made his
opposition to the stem cell
bill known yesterday at the
White House, showing off
month-old Trey Jones, who
was born as a result of one
couple’s donation of frozen
embryos to another."

Frozen embryos? So, what happened to the rest?

Q: What happens to any extra pre-embryos?

A: A maximum of four pre-embryos will be transferred to the uterus for possible implantation. Patients will have several other options regarding the disposition of the remaining pre-embryos. One option is to freeze pre-embryos for your later use. Other options are to donate or simply dispose of them. Excess pre-embryos, if any, belong to you, and you will determine what is to be done.

http://www.ivf.com/ivffaq.html

What happens to the surplus embryos?

There are only two options for the surplus embryos -- those that are not implanted in the woman's uterus:

- Most often, the spare embryos are deep-frozen in liquid nitrogen. This is called "cryopreservation." Of the 232 labs who returned surveys to a government survey, 215 (94.7%) have the equipment to preserve embryos.

Their fate is mixed:

- Some die during the freezing process;

- Some die while they are subsequently thawed.

- They may eventually die because of operator error or equipment malfunction.

- If the original attempt at IVF fails to produce a pregnancy, then some embryos may be thawed out and a second implantation attempted. Probably about three out of four of these thawed embryos will die without developing into a fetus. Probably fewer than one in four will develop into a fetus and a newborn.

- Some embryos will probably lose their ability to induce a pregnancy over time. One source says that about 25% of frozen and thawed embryos do not survive between a first and second impregnation procedure. Another source says that some frozen embryos might survive for decades.

- On the order of 9,000 of the 400,000 embryos preserved in cryogenic freezers in American fertility clinics are available for use by other couples. As of 2003-AUG, 31 embryos have been successfully implanted in the uterus of unrelated women, and were later born. Fourteen more are expected to be born by the end of 2003. These are often called "snowflake babies" by pro-life groups.

- Those embryos that are not preserved in liquid nitrogen will inevitably die. They have no chance of living or developing into a newborn. Many clinics simply discard or destroy them. Some embryos are simply flushed down a sink drain while alive. Some are transferred to a medical waste bin where they are later incinerated, while alive. Some simply expose the embryos to the air and let them die naturally; this normally takes up to four days. Still other embryos are donated for research and experimentation, for personnel training, or for diagnostic purposes. At this stage in their development, they fortunately have no brain, no central nervous system, no pain sensors, no consciousness, no awareness of their environment. Thus, no matter by which method they are disposed, they will feel no discomfort.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_inco.htm

So as of 2003, there were 400,000 preserved embryos. By the end of 2003, 31 embryos had been successfully implanted and subsequently born, and 14 more were expected to be born. That's 45 children from 400,000 embryos.

Meanwhile:

"18.2 million people — 6.3% of the population — have diabetes." (Just in America): http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/estimates.htm

"At least one million people in the United States are estimated to have Parkinson's.": http://www.michaeljfox.org/parkinsons/index.php

"It is estimated that 4.5 million Americans over the age of 65 are affected" with Alzheimer's disease.: http://scc.healthcentral.com/bcp/main.asp?ap=416&brand=30&page=ency&id=100

"Cholera is spreading in Baghdad’s impoverished al-Amil quarter where overcrowding and contaminated water are leading to fears of an epidemic. City officials blame insurgent attacks on infrastructure for the outbreak in southwest Baghdad. Children have so far been the worse affected, with one doctor at a Baghdad hospital saying he is now seeing young cholera patients on a daily basis.": http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1498418