Eric Cohen

In testimony before the Senate last July, Dr. Michael West, president of Advanced Cell Technology and lead scientist on the team that recently cloned the first human embryos, quoted Scripture:

As the Apostle Paul said: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (I Cor. 13:11) In the same way, it is absolutely a matter of life and… more

Dr. Michael West, the lead scientist on the team that recently cloned the first human embryos, believes his mission in life is "to end suffering and death." "For the sake of medicine," he informs us, "we need to set our fears aside." For the sake of health, in other words, we need to overcome our moral inhibitions against cloning and eugenics.

The human cloning announcement was not a shock. We have been "progressing" down this road for years, while averting our… more

There are two basic theories about how Sept. 11 will change U.S. politics and culture.

The first one contends that the terrorist attacks have transformed everything. Old debates and loyalties are now irrelevant. The red-and-blue divide of the 2000 elections is obsolete. The culture wars are over--or at least on permanent hold. The frivolousness of the 1990s--the age of Clintonism, stock options and reality TV--has given way to a new sense of reality, seriousness and national unity. Politics have been… more

When was the last time religious, moral, or social considerations triumphed over science? How will the culture war over stem cells and human cloning change the face of American politics? Is the American experiment -- the idea that God and progress would never clash beyond compromise -- on the brink of extinction? Can technology be stopped even if the democratic majority wanted to stop it? Join us for what is sure to be a lively discussion.

Last week's vote in the House to ban human cloning is something to celebrate. It may even be something momentous. The House passed, by 265 to 162, a bill sponsored by representative Dave Weldon of Florida that would ban the creation of all human clones. It rejected an alternative sponsored by Pennsylvania representative James Greenwood, and backed by the biotech lobby, that would have allowed the creation of cloned human embryos to be used for medical research and then destroyed.… more

Only a sage could have predicted that President Bush's first major decision would be about federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. For the first few months of his presidency, most people expected stem cells to be a one-day story--like federal funding of overseas abortion clinics--with the usual histrionics on both the cultural right and left. But this was not to be.

The issue of stem cells struck a national nerve, bringing into sharp relief deep divides about right and wrong,… more

There have been two prominent responses to the news that the Jones Institute in Virginia is creating human embryos simply to harvest their stem cells: concern and outrage.

Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia, is concerned. Asked in the governor's debate last week if he believes Virginia should ban all in-state research on embryonic stem cells, he replied: "In terms of banning all such research, no. I saw the report from the Jones Institute this week, and it… more

Among the issues in American politics that inspire the most ideological fervor these days, stem cells and missile defense are at the top of the list. Missile defense has a long history: … more

Urban uplift has gone through many phases in the last few decades -- from the militant community empowerment experiments of the 1960s, to the large-scale government housing projects of the 1970s, to the new public-private partnerships of the 1980s and 1990s. The latest enthusiasm is "technological empowerment" -- symbolized nowhere more clearly than Edgewood Terrace in Northeast Washington, D.C., which has achieved that peculiar status of the famous left-behind community.

The drive down Rhode Island Avenue to Edgewood Terrace is,… more

After a failed effort to ban human cloning in 1998, Congress has taken up the issue once again. There have been hearings in both the House and the Senate, testimony from fertility doctors … more