Every day this question is posed in one form or another. How we answer it will define the 21st century, the "Biotech Century." The Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture is here to inform and equip you as we encounter such vital issues as:
What is stem cell research? Should human cloning be pursued? Euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide: desirable ends? Is there a difference between therapy and enhancement? What is transhumanism, and why should we care? Genetic testing: what impact will it have on our lives? Should some human rights extend beyond our species?
This week, we bring you stories that examine the idea of humanity. Who is human? And who gets to be human?
Earlier this week, the Spanish Parliment put forward groundbreaking legislation that extends human rights to non-human species - Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes
The Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture has finished production on a new video addressing human dignity and what it means to be human. It has been posted on You Tube at "Who's Who?" Video For information on obtaining a copy of this visually impacting video, please see our contact information.
Human cloning is the asexual reproduction of human beings, and occurs in this manner: the first requirement is a human egg, procured by no small procedure from a woman whose system has been stimulated with powerful medications to produce oocytes, or eggs. Next, that egg’s nucleus is removed, and the nucleus from a somatic cell (a cell other than sperm or egg) is inserted into the enucleated egg. Then a chemical or electrical stimulus is applied, and the cell begins to divide, forming an embryo. This is somatic cell nuclear transfer, or “cloning.”
