A Nobel winner's moral achievement

pioneer press ^ | 10-12-12 | William Saletan

[TurboZamboni]

WASHINGTON -- Shinya Yamanaka, a scientist at Kyoto University, loved stem-cell research. But he didn't want to destroy embryos. So he figured out a way around the problem. In a paper published five years ago in Cell, Yamanaka and six colleagues showed how "induced pluripotent stem cells" could be derived from adult cells and potentially substituted, in research and therapy, for embryonic stem cells. This week, that discovery earned him a Nobel Prize, shared with British scientist John Gurdon. But the prize announcement and much of the media coverage missed half the story. Yamanaka's venture wasn't just an experiment. It was a moral project.

In the introduction to their Cell paper, Yamanaka and his colleagues outlined their reasons for seeking an alternative to conventional embryonic stem-cell research. "Ethical controversies" came first in their analysis. Technical reasons -- the difficulty of making patient-specific embryonic stem cells -- came second. After the paper's publication, Yamanaka told a personal story, related by The New York Times:

[TurboZamboni]

The Nobel committee made no mention of Yamanaka's moral achievement. Not in its presentation, not in its press release, not in its interview with the laureate. It credited him only with developing "new tools" to study disease and develop therapies. Many reporters took the same approach. In its 600-word story, CNN ignored the ethics of Yamanaka's work. The Los Angeles Times called restrictions on embryo destruction mere "headaches" for scientists. The New York Times said Yamanaka's work, like other stem-cell technologies, had "generated objections from people who fear, on ethical or religious grounds, that scientists are pressing too far into nature's mysteries and the ability to create life artificially."

[Arm_Bears]

God is smiling on Dr. Yamanaka—That’s all that really matters.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Dr. Yamanaka --- my new hero.

A human. A mensch. I think he's like what God wants us to be.

[Incorrigible]

Bump

[Vince Ferrer]

This says as much about the media and the Nobel prize comittee as it does Yamanaka.

[andyk]

wow. I never would have known about this if not for the FR.

[TurboZamboni]

that’s why we luv us some FR.

[Sherman Logan]

The New York Times said Yamanaka's work, like other stem-cell technologies, had "generated objections from people who fear, on ethical or religious grounds, that scientists are pressing too far into nature's mysteries and the ability to create life artificially."

Makes it sound like anybody who objects to killing fetuses is just worried about Dr. Fronkensteen.

While there may be some people out there worried about these things, the vast majority of pro-lifers object to the destruction of live humans for purposes of research.

As the article says, pro-lifers have hailed his work, not objected to it.