Thursday 20 September 2007

Poached Nuts on Research Menu, Hold the Eggs.

Back in July, we wrote about scientific ‘eggheads’ creating embryonic stem cells by using stimulated yet unfertilized ova, in Virgin Eggs Over Easy, Hold The Sperm. Meanwhile, a different group of scientists with something else on the brain have been playing around with mouse testicles. From the CBC story:
Stem cells found in men’s testicles could someday be used to grow organs and tissues needed to fight disease, researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City have found. … Scientists obtained spermatogonial progenitor stem cells (SPCs), which generate the precursors to sperm and determine fertility, from mouse testicles.

Catholic clergy got hot under the collar about research that used stimulated ova, and made up their own (unscientific) claims that if these eggs grow for the first few days and then stop, according to Church doctrine that may mean that they’re actually “very short-lived human beings”.


So far, there has been complete silence from the Vatican regarding research on testicular cells. This may be explained by the dynamics of another process, uncovered in the course of conducting research on male mice.

… other researchers have shown that adult cells can be reprogrammed to acquire
stem-cell potential. However, this process, called “induced pluripotency”, has
resulted in a generation of multi-potent stem cells that carried an increased
risk of transforming into malignant cells.

Now, does that process not sound familiar …? Isn’t that the perfect metaphor for the vile entity known as the
Magisterium?
Magisterium is a technical ecclesiastical term in Roman Catholic Church referring to the teaching authority of the church. This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the church, led by the Bishop of Rome (the Pope). According to Catholic doctrine, the Magisterium is able to teach or interpret the truths of the Faith, and it does so infallibly within the Sacred Magisterium. The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him
The Magisterium, a proliferation of malignant cells that fetishizes the fetus and command blind obeisance. Sounds quite right to me.

Originally posted at Birth Pangs.

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