Environmentalist seeks to limit child birth.

[jehovah Nissi]

I think it's a legitimate concern - if our population keeps increasing like that sooner or later this world will not have enough resources to support us.

However, I doubt the problem should be solved by telling loving married couples to cut down. People should stop having sex and kids out of wedlock. If we were just a little more responsible things would be much better.

I don't know anything about this "green think tank". I would imagine its a rather marginal one. However, the reactionary responses in this thread aside, you have a good point. We have more than tripled the world's population in the last 100 years and that can't continue indefinitely. This is not just for environmental reasons either, but also because of issues of poverty and famine as well. The problem is not really in the developed world though. Its rather more a problem of explosive population growth in the third world and in sub-saharan Africa. One would be hard to find a single environmental organization, aid organization, or NGO period that would not agree that birth rates have to be curbed in the developing world. I don't think anyone is arguing that we need to have some kind of totalitarian restrictions on child bearing in the developing world, but rather that significant steps have got to be taken there to promote family planning (such as contraceptive use among married couples so that they only have kids they actually plan for and can support), and curbing children born out of wedlock.

Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver (household) full of them..."

Sounds like God isn't into controlling population either

[Bolts]

Nuclear energy hasn't exactly been abused, either. Ok, so it was developed as a weapon to end World War II, but nuclear arms have never been used since and lots of countries have benefited from nuclear energy. Science isn't something to be feared, like a pack of proto-humans cowering in fear of the thunder. It should be embraced and encouraged.

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended

us to forgo their use.

Galileo says a mouthful there Given that we are also endowed with 'choice', it is probably in the best interest of science that we pray for Godly decisions and choices to be made so that we can embrace and encourage science.

Genetic engeering has it's positives but there are also negatives:

Science is able to manipulate genes - this gives more political power over trade and over the population. For example, they now have the ability to create seeds that will only germinate once and do not give seed, which means that consumers will have to buy seeds every year. It would possibly mean the use of less pesticides (which to me would be a good thing), putting companies out of business and thinning job prospectives. So you see, there are a lot of 'possible' shifts that can change the whole socioeconomic structure.

US company 'cloned humans and made stem cells'

2:33PM Friday January 18, 2008

A US company has used cloning technology to make five human embryos.

WASHINGTON - A California company says it used cloning technology to make five human embryos, with the eventual hope of making matched stem cells for patients.

Stemagen Corp. in La Jolla, California, destroyed the embryos while testing to make sure they were true clones. But the researchers, based at a fertility center, said they believed their ready source of new human eggs would make their venture a success.

Other experts were skeptical about the claims, published in the journal Stem Cells. If verified, the team would be the first to prove they have cloned human beings as a source of stem cells, the master cells of the body.

There are several types of stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, made from days-old embryos, are considered the most powerful because they can give rise to all the cell types in the body.

The Stemagen team said they got five human embryos using skin cells from two adult men who work at the IVF center. They said they had painstakingly verified that the embryos were clones of the two men. We hope it is a bit of a turning point for many more studies," Andrew French, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.

They used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, which involves hollowing out an egg cell and injecting the nucleus of a cell from the donor to be copied - in this case, the skin cells from the men.

It is the same technique used to make Dolly the sheep in 1996, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult. Researchers hope to use the technique to create tailor-made transplants of cells, tissue or organs for patients, treating injuries and diseases like juvenile diabetes.

Since a significant percentage of couples undergoing fertility treatments appear willing to participate in this type of research, we believe the method described to obtain donated oocytes is a viable and ethically acceptable strategy," the researchers wrote.

MOST SUCCESSFUL SO FAR

Some cloning experts said the work appeared to be genuine.

"This is the most successful description so far of the use of the cloning techniques with purely human material. However, it is still a long way from achieving the goal of obtaining embryonic stem cells," said Robin Lovell-Badge of Britain's Medical Research Council's division of stem cell biology.

"I hope that the authors have the opportunity to continue their work and derive embryo stem cell lines," Ian Wilmut, who led the team that cloned Dolly and who is now at the University of Edinburgh, said in an email.

The field is controversial for several reasons.

President George W. Bush opposes the use of human embryos to make stem cells and has vetoed bills from Congress that would expand federal funding of this research.

South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk made headlines when he was found to have faked key parts of a report that his team had used cloning technology to make human embryos in 2004.

"We need to be ultra-cautious after the Hwang scandal and not make the same mistake all over again," said Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology, a Massachusetts company that is also trying to make human embryonic stem cells. "I'd really like to believe it, but I'm not sold yet," Lanza said

Other teams have made stem cells they believe are similar to embryonic cells using a variety of techniques, including reprogramming a human egg cell alone, reprogramming ordinary skin cells into what are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or by taking one cell from a human embryo without harming the embryo.

But most stem cell experts agree it is important to continue trying to make stem cells from embryos too.

[faith pleases God]

Why the banning of semis and heavy vehicles or only carpooling or electric cars only or greater restrictions on logging or use of bicycles or limited flying isn't the first thing proposed, but the banning of birth! God said to be fruitful and multiply. Not live your evil, greedy, irresponsible, unaccountable, pleasure seeking, convienient lives to the point of pre-birth murder and environmental chaos and destruction. I can see why the world has this self serving mentality but not followers of Christ. We are not here for ourselves. The stage is being set for the antichrist. Let us as Christians not promote the setting. The season is near. Be watchful and pray.

[Ddavid from NC]

You have got to have more babies to fill up the suburban

[Bolts]

Thank you Conundrum I really enjoyed reading your post. I can see that you are a deep thinker and possibly an accomplished critical thinker -

Heyyyyy ..... on the up side ..... maybe the price of dental care and even going to the hairdresser will drop!!