The protection of "acts of conscience" by medical care professionals, and by anyone else, as it is progressively being defined, puts us on the slippery slope to the denial of the benefits of, or even knowledge of, advancements in medical science....possibly including embryonic stem cell research in California, Korea, wherever.
here is the latest cause celebre' among the fundos, which was noticed by Joon, in a comment to Armando's diary:
There's a conscience law pending in Wisconsin which would allow a physician to NOT give parents information about chickenpox or rubella vaccinations for their child(ren) since the original source of these vaccines were cultures made from tissue from aborted fetuses. hear the interview at
NPR
What this means for the use of vaccines and the fruits of stem cell research, below the jump.
A discussion of this subject can be found at
here.
"As early as the 1930s, the use of tissue from aborted fetuses has been instrumental in understanding cell biology and in developing vaccines. ...Vaccines for rubella, chickenpox, and hepatitis-A are all grown in fetal cell lines and currently do not have an alternative source. A human cell line, WI-38, was obtained in the 1950s from the lung of an aborted fetus and used for the development of vaccines against chickenpox and rubella. The vaccine against rabies was developed using the same WI-38 human cell line.
While alternative sources do exist for certain viral vaccines derived from fetal cells, the use of vaccines derived from animal cell lines is not not free of ethical complications. One of the problems with using animals as a vaccine source is that undetected animal viruses may jump the species barrier, as demonstrated in the 1950s and 1960s, when millions were infected with polio vaccines contaminated with SV-40 (simian virus number 40) undetected in the monkey organs used to prepare the vaccines. Researchers consider SV-40 a powerful immunosuppressor and a cancer-causing virus. Fetal cell strains are considered more reliable and cause fewer adverse events than their respective animal-derived strains.
In addition to the danger of cross-species contamination, the use of animal-derived cells instead of fetal cells in certain vaccines, such as smallpox, has proved to have limited efficacy. ...the new smallpox vaccine is prepared using the fetal cell line MRC-5 as the substrate. MRC-5 is the same cell line currently used in vaccines for rubella, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), rabies, and hepatitis-A."
What are the implications of the proposed law in Wisconsin?
It is bad enough that this is a "lookback" concept: ie the research and establishment of the cell lines were in the distant past. No fetuses/embryos/blastocysts are being `killed' to grow these cell lines. In spite of that, the fundos are now choosing to object to the use of these vaccines. Now realize what this means: not only are the fundos preventing research on these cells, they are trying to prevent ANY UTILIZATION OF THE FRUIT OF THIS "POISONED TREE." The fundos have already begun to express concern. See this site:
Q: Could the South Koreans' approach be used to produce a cloned baby?
A: The general approach has been used to clone animals, including cats, cattle and horses. But scientists have failed in their efforts to clone primates.
Woo Suk-hwang, leader of the South Korean research team, said this week that, "biologically, it may be impossible" to clone a baby. Many prominent biologists agree.
Q: Are there different ethical issues?
A: Some people find stem cells derived from excess embryos from in vitro fertilization to be less ethically troubling, as the embryos would have been discarded anyway.
Others, including many bioethicists, believe that stem cells derived from the South Korean team's technique are ethically more acceptable because the cloned embryos have no potential to become a baby. Thus, no life is lost in harvesting the stem cells.
Lest you think this reassuring, let us BE CRYSTAL CLEAR: THE KOREAN RESEARCH IS FORBIDDEN IN THE US UNDER BUSH/FUNDO/NIH GUIDELINES.
Furthermore, Bush has weighed in on the Korean accomplishments, and
its not pretty:
WASHINGTON May 21, 2005 — President Bush has condemned stem cell research advances in South Korea and said he worried about living in a world in which human cloning was condoned. He said he would veto any legislation aimed at loosening limits on federal support in the United States.
"I'm very concerned about cloning," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. "I worry about a world in which cloning becomes acceptable.""
So depending on who's president, some subtle ethical interpretations of "life" and the likelihood that this embryo could become a successful clone, this could effectively deny Americans the benefits of embryonic/fetal/blastocyst stem cell research NO MATTER WHERE OR WHEN THE RESEARCH WAS DONE. Korea/Schmorea...AMERICANS CAN'T HAVE THEM...VACCINES, CANCER CURES....SORRY...
Now, notice the further and even more bizarre consequence of this proposed Wisconsin legislation:
THE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL WOULD NOT BE UNDER ANY OBLIGATION TO EVEN TELL THE PATIENT ABOUT THESE TREATMENTS. Furthermore, by logical extension:
Anybody else in the chain of events necessary to obtaining these drugs can also refuse to cooperate. We have already heard about some of this: typesetters, printers, delivery boys, gas station attendants...
Seriously folks... This is bad shit. I will not expand upon the very serious vaccine issues at this point, but here isn't gonna be a cure for cancer even available in this country if we don't stop this shit.
Furthermore, this non-disclosure issue is a really big one, because it strikes at the heart of medical care. It deserves its own story. If somebody else doesn't put one up, I will try my hand at it.
I used to think this was tinfoil hat stuff. Not anymore. When the Wisconsin legislature is talking seriously about this stuff, it has to be noticed. Our tottering medical care system does not need this bullshit. We are talking about descent into healthcare hell.