and so it begins.
5-5-2004 Lab Creates Babies As Stem-Cell Donors
CHICAGO - In a growing practice that troubles some ethicists, a Chicago laboratory helped create five healthy babies so that they could serve as stem-cell donors for their ailing brothers and sisters.
The made-to-order infants, from different families, were screened and selected when they were still embryos to make sure they would be compatible donors.
The Chicago doctors said the healthy embryos that were not matches were frozen for potential future use. But some ethicists said such perfectly healthy embryos could end up being discarded.
Taranissi disagreed with ethicists concerned about discarding disease-free embryos. He noted that it often happens with in vitro fertilization, when doctors frequently create more test-tube embryos than are needed.
Some have had abortions when standard prenatal testing showed the child would not be a suitable donor, he said.
The new procedure, he noted, does not involve abortion and poses no known risks to the embryos. Furthermore, parents seeking donor babies typically are well-intentioned and love the donor children, Fost said.
"Of all the reasons people have babies, this would seem to be a wonderful reason. Most reasons are either mindless sex or selfish reasons," he said.
5-5-2004 Lab Creates Babies As Stem-Cell Donors
CHICAGO - In a growing practice that troubles some ethicists, a Chicago laboratory helped create five healthy babies so that they could serve as stem-cell donors for their ailing brothers and sisters.
The made-to-order infants, from different families, were screened and selected when they were still embryos to make sure they would be compatible donors.
The Chicago doctors said the healthy embryos that were not matches were frozen for potential future use. But some ethicists said such perfectly healthy embryos could end up being discarded.
Taranissi disagreed with ethicists concerned about discarding disease-free embryos. He noted that it often happens with in vitro fertilization, when doctors frequently create more test-tube embryos than are needed.
Some have had abortions when standard prenatal testing showed the child would not be a suitable donor, he said.
The new procedure, he noted, does not involve abortion and poses no known risks to the embryos. Furthermore, parents seeking donor babies typically are well-intentioned and love the donor children, Fost said.
"Of all the reasons people have babies, this would seem to be a wonderful reason. Most reasons are either mindless sex or selfish reasons," he said.
Sorry, Dave. 
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