Sunspots 934

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*

Computing and Politics: Gizmodo talks to a member of Congress who wants to require acknowledgment of such when deepfake (computer-generated material masquerading as the real thing) technology is used.

Environment:  (and Politics) The Guardian reports on a detailed plan, for an incoming Republican President,  to eliminate the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency, and other such governmental entities.

The heat is so high, in Arizona, that even saguaro cactus plants are dying.

Food: Does Subway's tuna really contain tuna?

Health  (and Politics): Gizmodo reports that Republican people have been more likely to get COVID than Democrats, at least partly because of misinformation about the vaccines by prominent Republicans.

Science: The Associated Press and other outlets report that the  family of Henrietta Lacks has been compensated for the use of her cells, which were taken without her knowledge or permission. They have been used widely in science.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Abortion and the use of fetal tissue in research

Abortion is an important subject. Many people, Christians and others, are convinced that it is wrong, perhaps even a form of murder, and believe that it should be outlawed, except, perhaps, in case of the continued pregnancy putting the mother at grave health risk.

Here is a long essay by me, on abortion, which includes, among other topics, discussion of the question of whether the Bible prohibits abortion.

As Michael Gerson points out, concerning Christian opposition to abortion, "The Bible is pretty much silent on the topic [of abortion]. Instead, [evangelical Christians'] religious beliefs inform a certain anthropology -- a belief that humans have rights and dignity because they are created in the image and likeness of God."

Relevant has compiled the positions on abortion, of the many Democratic Presidential candidates.

Science cannot set a stage of development at which life begins. That would be something like asking a baseball umpire to establish policy for the Federal Reserve. The two are different fields, and the umpire would have no particular expertise in that area. When life begins is a legal, moral, ethical, religious, and philosophical matter. Scientists can provide evidence that may bear on when an individual human life begins. But they can't, and shouldn't, claim that they can establish the stage at when life begins, because "life" has to be carefully defined. The more important question, also controversial, is "how should we treat a developing human at this particular stage?" This is a legal, political, moral, ethical, religious and philosophical matter.

A recent ruling by the Trump administration will drastically curtail research on fetal tissue, according to Gizmodo and other sources. However, the House of Representatives has introduced language that would prevent the establishment of ethics committees to review research on fetal tissue. This provision, if agreed to by the Senate, would continue to allow research using fetal tissue. However, since the legislation is part of a spending bill, its future is uncertain, until that spending bill is finally passed. Whatever you think of fetal tissue research, prohibiting ethical examination seems to be a potentially dangerous step.

See this historical summary, describing various governmental actions, and other developments in fetal research, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The same web page also lists and identifies the terms used for various stages in embryonic development. Among other things, the page indicates that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in 1954, was for the development of anti-polio vaccines, developed using fetal tissue. I have not been able to determine how that fetal tissue for that research was obtained. But such a breakthrough is contrary to a statement by Oregon Right to Life, which says that "Fetal tissue research has also not successfully helped treat a single patient." As has happened all too often, those passionate about making abortion readily available, or those passionate about restricting it, depart significantly from the truth.

With the background out of the way, we now come to the matters directly related to the title of this post

Note that fetal cells can multiply, so that large numbers of cells of a given type can be produced and used. (HeLa cells, which were not derived from a fetus, but from a tumor, are widely used all over the world. They were obtained -- without getting her permission -- from a woman who died in 1951.)

Why use fetal tissue at all? 1. Vaccines are produced by viruses growing in fetal tissue cultures. This includes those against measles, rubella, rabies, chicken pox, shingles and hepatitis A.
2. Fetal tissue can be used to study basic developmental questions on how the body develops. 
3. Fetal cells are used to study the effects of various substances, including medicines, on fetuses.
4. Fetal tissues can be used to study diseases that affect fetuses, such as the Zika virus.
5. Some fetal cells lack surface markers, which are those used by the immune system to reject tissue. Therefore, it is possible to transplant fetal cells into the brain, or other places, and they won't be rejected by the host. There have been attempts to treat Parkinson's disease in this way.

USA Today has a web page "What you need to know about how fetal tissue is used for research."


President George W. Bush attempted a compromise, namely that fetal cell lines already in use could continue to be used. This resulted in 21 cell lines which might be used in research, and cut off use of tissue resulting from abortions after that attempt. Like many compromises, this one didn't satisfy a lot of people, who either thought no fetal tissue should ever be used for research, or that 21 cell lines were too restrictive.

Recently, scientists have produced a sort of substitute embryo, from embryonic stem cells.

What are the objections to using fetal tissue for medical research? 

The objection that has gotten the most attention is objecting because fetal tissue must have been obtained from a fetus, by an abortion, or possibly a miscarriage, and a fetus is a potential human being. If God wants fetuses protected, then, it is argued, fetal tissue research should be banned. However, as is pointed out in the "Is abortion murder," and "Was killing babies considered murder in the Bible?" sections of this post, and Gerson (see above) points out, the Bible says next to nothing about abortion, and it is not absolutely clear that the Bible prohibits it. That doesn't mean that Christians can't oppose abortion, and, indeed, many Christians believe strongly that they should oppose abortion. Opposition to abortion might include opposition to the use of fetal tissue in research.

It seems doubtful that anyone would have an abortion for the purpose of providing fetal cell tissue lines for study. I have never read of this. So, if a woman can obtain an abortion, some cells might be available, and they would be a side product of the abortion.

Some draw an analogy between use of fetal tissue and use of body parts. It is doubtful if anyone has shot someone else for the purpose of making, say, their kidney, available for transplanting. But kidneys, and other body parts, do become available, and are used, because of murders and car accidents. Few people would argue that using such body parts is wrong, even though murder and drunken driving are wrong. On the contrary, as a society, we seem to accept that good consequences may come from these terrible actions, and we don't blame organ transplanting for murders and car accidents. Does the same argument hold for using fetal tissue? One difference between these is that kidneys, livers, etc., can be obtained from a recently deceased person who knowingly gave permission for such use, whereas that is not possible for fetal tissue. For that, and other reasons, the analogy may not be valid.

No doubt there are other aspects of this subject that I have not considered. Please comment, if you can. Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 692

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

 Christianity: A Relevant writer discusses the importance of hope.

The family of Mollie Tibbetts, who was murdered, has expressed forgiveness for the probable murderer, according to Relevant.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, according to Relevant, plans to establish chapters on all US campuses with more than 1,000 students, over the next few years. They say that "about 53 percent of 2,500 schools currently don’t have any known campus ministry. ..."
 
Computing: (and Food) USA Today reports that IBM has patented drones that can fly around work spaces and dispense coffee.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us whether we should use "in Jesus's name," or "in Jesus' name."

Ethics: (or something) Gizmodo reports on an agency in Brazil, which is trying to protect isolated tribes. According to the report, there may be as many as 11 tribes in the rainforest which have never interacted with "modern" man.

Food: Gizmodo reports that the state legislature of Missouri has tried to define "meat." There are questions about cell/tissue cultured products, which aren't available in grocery stores, but which may be in the future.

Health: Scientific American reports that marijuana-derived substances are found in breast milk for 6 days after the last use.

History: National Public Radio reports that there is a drought in some of Europe. That has exposed "hunger stones" in some rivers -- stones with inscriptions telling of previous droughts. One such inscription is in 1417 AD. See also here, for marked stone exposure in a different part of Europe.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight looks at research on the effect of voter identification laws.

National Public Radio reports that the Department of Homeland Security presented a rosier picture of conditions in countries that actually exists there, in order to justify sending refugees back to them. Sigh.

Science: Analysis of data collected by an Indian spacecraft show that there is water on the moon.

USA Today reports that some farmers in Mexico have been growing corn that is associated with Nitrogen-fixing bacteria. (Usually, Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are associated with members of the pea family, such as soybeans. Plants that have such associations need less (or no) Nitrogen in fertilizer, and the plants are a better source of protein building blocks in people that eat them.)

Space.com reports that an asteroid seems to be about 95% metal, which is very unusual, and could be commercially important, if we can get there to mine it. Here's the Wikipedia article on that asteroid, Psyche.

Lifehacker on how to get a cat to like you (or at least act like it does).

Scientific American on how to tell if a comatose patient is conscious.

Scientific American also reports that we can have only up to about 150 real friends -- people we interact with regularly.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 421

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: A writer for Wired reflects on the reasons for, and effects of, "binge watching." (That means using Netflix or its competitors, or DVDs, to watch several episodes of a TV show at once.)

Christianity: This is not a recommendation -- I don't know enough about the organization, and haven't read enough of their web site -- but the motto of Day Star Research is promising: "Ending the Christian Holy War on Science."

Todd Wood reacts to an article by Vern Poythress on the "Adam debate." There are a lot of interesting ideas in the reaction. One idea that I should have had long ago -- Jesus presumably had a Y chromosome, but didn't get it from his parents. It must have been created for him at some point in His early development.

Science: According to the New York Times, cockroach populations given poison in sugar solutions evolved so that sugar sends a signal to a portion of their brain that interprets the taste as if it were bitter, not sweet.

National Public Radio reports on how cherries from Hungary have been used in cherry-breeding work in the US. Apparently Hungarians take cherries very seriously.

NPR also reports on the use of live human lung cells (cultured) to detect air pollution.



Image source (public domain)