Letter: Stem cell research deserves strong support, funding

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

The Sun is to be complimented for printing the Aug. 8 article on stem cells by James McManus. I especially liked the statement: "If mere potentiality to develop into a human being is enough to make something morally human then every human cell has a special or inviolable moral status, a view that is patently absurd."

I think we need to realize that the basis used by every civilized country in the world to define a lawful person is based on the writings of John Locke, the 17th century philosopher of freedom. He defined a human as a "thinking, intelligent being that has reason and reflection and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in different times and places."

Clearly biological humanness does not equate to personhood. An embryo without a brain, or a fetus without consciousness, is a pre-human -- not a human. They can lawfully be aborted. A human that is brain dead but has machines that keep the body alive -- machines that can be legally turned off -- is a post-human. Without the gift of consciousness, there is no life and no rights. Human cells fall off and out of our bodies each day and must die.

Science needs to be free to go where its clarity of thought and rationality lead it. Stem cell research needs funding and reverent support. Let's not abandon rationality and go back to the dark ages.

SHIRLEY BRAVERMAN