Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is inducted into our Hall of Shame for his proposal to allow science an unfettered blank check without regard to ethics or morality. The Boston Pilot reports:
Gov. Deval Patrick said March 30 that he plans to work with the Public Health Council whose members are going to be replaced with Patrick's appointees to lift restrictions on the use of embryos conceived for the sole purpose of donating them to science for stem-cell research. In his comments announcing the move, the governor vigorously supported a vision of unbridled scientific research. I believe that life sciences should be guided by science and not ideological politics, Gov. Patrick said. Stem-cell research should proceed both from the economic and humanitarian perspective and I am committed to that. I want science to prevail. The governor also said that he wants to ensure scientists can perform their research uninhibited.
The response of the editorial from the Boston Pilot is correct and to the point:
We wonder if the governor understands the gravity of his statements. Science, as any other human activity if it is to continue to be human must be guided by a code of ethics that places limits on the ambition of scientific researchers and institutions. Absent a moral code of conduct, science will invariably succumb to the temptation of doing everything possible to attain the desired results. Yet not everything that is possible is moral. Patrick's call for science to police itself sciences should be guided by science is distressing. It is in fact society guided by moral principles of natural law that has the obligation to set limits on what is possible, to make sure it is also ethical.
Unbridled science? Is not that what Hitler promoted and his people practiced in the Concentration Camps? How can anyone be this stupid. This is not just about a Christian ethic. This is an issue that all people, even atheist should be in outrage. The Governor and all the other dimwits in the state legislature that support this have well earned their place in our Hall of Shame.