Embryonic Stem Cell Research and The Survival Lottery Proposed by John Harris

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Do we "own" our genes? I think so, but only to a point. I don't mean to sound crass, but would a prostitute "give it away" for free? I bring up prostitution because there's a reason it's known as the "world's oldest profession" and because I think as such it provides the most insight on the mindset I believe we have as a specie when it comes to services our bodies can provide. I cannot stress that I'm not calling organ donors prostitutes(though if you sell your organs you kind of are) and that I'm not trying to insult any group I talk about below. At the end of the day however, if you're talking about your rights to your tissues, I think the parallels raise themselves in the course of the conversations. I compare tissue donation to sex because there isn't a state in the Union that let's others choose for a person who they have relations with. You're the ultimate arbiter on who gets to put what where(sexually speaking). Yes there are still sodomy laws, but my point is there's no law that says you have to sleep with Jenny on the block or Johnny the Mayor's son. And jus primae noctis has been out for hundreds of years. So if that's the case in our society, why should it be different with your tissues? Shouldn't you decide who gets your organs or genes? The way I see it, if we have rights to any of the avenues we would pass on our genes or donate our organs then we have rights to all avenues thereof. Because there's already precedent in our culture("My body my choice!") of autonomy concerning one's flesh I don't see how an argument could be made otherwise. That being said once you release your tissues and genes I believe your forfeit all rights to them thereafter. This might seem the obvious course of action when ... ... middle of paper ... ... anyone has the right in such a case to decide how the embryo is to be used but the owners of the genetic material involved in its creation. Again, until the situation is different and we don't have a surplus of material we could be using to advance potentially life saving research the idea that we as a nation are purposefully not allowing the resource of materials to aid said research is criminal. No matter how much opponents might want to marry ESCR to abortion or pro-life debate all their doing is refusing to look at the reality in front of them. The potential good versus the guaranteed nothing that comes from such stubbornness should alert us all to the disservice we're doing ourselves by way of our representatives on this issue. It might save more tangible lives than we could possibly imagine. It's certainly worth exploring when we have the opportunity.

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