LETTERS: STEM-CELL RUSH: SCIENTISTS SEEK FAME AND FORTUNE

To the editor:

Here is what Wesley Smith, author of "Culture of Death: Assault on Medical Ethics in America," has to say about stem-cell research.

"Bait and switch has been one of the primary tactics of the Brave New Worlders who see some forms of human life as a merely exploitable and profitable natural resource, ripe for the harvest. Before they can reap the harvest they must push past the reluctance of the American people to permit life to be commodified and objectified. That's where embryonic stem-cell research comes in."

Advocates all but promise a miraculous tomorrow in which people with maladies that afflict mankind take the embryonic stem-cell cure. Never mind that alternative sources of stem cells offer similar potential.

These scientists want to take the shortcut in their race to make a discovery they can patent and make a fortune with. They want to create embryo farms, breeding embryos like ranchers breed cattle. What is our country coming to when we object to drilling for oil in Alaska and abandon our most valuable natural resource: human life? If we don't protect human life, there will be nobody to enjoy the wilderness.

CHRISTINE E. STEPHENS

Cape Girardeau