by a_hnau » January 1st, 2006, 11:15 am
By all means - I wasn't in any way excluding folks who may not be UK-based from the wryness :) I can't see that the 'real' NICE is doing anything particularly heinous just now. I have more of a problem with a scientist who was interviewed on Radio 4 this last week, who was advocating the use of 'spare' embryos from fertility treatment, for various kinds of research. He was asked (I think by John Humphreys, who is an extremely even-handed interviewer) if he could appreciate the views of some people who might have ethical issues with this. His reply was that the original donors of the embryos had given their full permission for such uses, so how could there possibly be a problem? Now, I wouldn't mind so much if he had had a consciously "life doesn't begin at conception" view and had argued as such, but he really couldn't see there was an issue. I get slightly annoyed when Christians are represented as 'silent' on some of these issues; if you listen long enough to Radio 4, you will find people like John Humphreys (I have no idea of his personal faith position) sooner or later putting virtually every 'conservative' Christian view on topics such as abortion, euthanasia, embryo research, etc etc, to decision-makers who in many instances just brush the questions off. So let's not say that these views are never heard...
Sorry for the rant! I've been mulling over that one since I heard the interview...
Happy New Year to everyone on the Wardrobe, by the way.
Urendi Maleldil
