The advance of science is noble and beneficial, but sometimes provides challenges to the ethical standards represented by the Hippocratic oath. Without these ethical standards, science goes the way of Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein, who had no second thoughts about ignoring morals in his quest to manipulate human life.
With the rapid advances in the biotechnology field today, it is hard to stay abreast of the changes. Human cloning, embryonic stem cells, and human/animal hybrids or chimeras are some examples where, if left unchecked, it would be very easy for us to lose our humanity while searching for ways to prolong our lives. Y
The Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, introduced by Senator Rick Santorum, forbids researchers from obtaining human tissue from fetuses when they know the pregnancy was deliberately initiated to create human "spare parts." Think this cannot happen here?
Right now, New Jersey law allows researchers to gestate a human clone all the way up until birth, at which point they have to kill the baby. The only reason to bring a fetus to term, and then kill it, would be to obtain body parts. Science has a lot to offer in helping us deal with pain and illness, but science without ethics destroys the very humanity we seek to protect.
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