The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 09, 1987, Page 2, Image 2
Viewpoint
2 THE GAMECOCK Friday, October 9, 1987
; amy delpo Editor in Chief
| stephen guilfoyle Copy Desk Chief
rp? brenda blyth News Editor
1 dc steve pradarelli Viewpoint Editor
t tamara willis Features Editor
UamecOCK wayne Washington sdohs editor
| I KEITH JONES Photography Editor
ROBB LANE Graphics Editor
| I PAULA WOJTOWICZ Beat Editor
Remedy?
Using fetuses to treat diseases
may do more harm than good
A gruesome commodity is making its way into the medical
marketplace.
Aborted fetuses, obtained through both natural and induced
means, could soon be added to hospitals' order forms along
with Bunsen burners, aspirin and bandages.
Cells from the fetuses, according to a report on NBC's Today
show Wednesday, are being used to treat patients suffering from
illnesses as diverse as diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.
Mill in tne experimental stage, the treatments are said to
reduce and, in some cases, even eliminate symptoms of otherwise
incurable diseases.
As one doctor interviewed on the morning news program
reasoned, why let all that material ? the aborted fetuses ? go
to waste?
Perhaps the reaction to this medical breakthrough should be a
loud cheer, despite the doctor's rather tasteless sense of
economy.
Any medical treatment that offers, even tentatively, relief
from such severe neurological disorders as Alzheimer's disease
? a disease that has struck an estimated 2 S million Amprirans
? is at least worthy of serious consideration.
But there arc ethical questions that beg to be examined just as
closely.
One obvious question is, where are the fetuses going to come
from? The main source, according to the Today show report,
would be abortion clinics. Another source would be "donations"
by women whose fetuses are aborted naturally.
It was implied that both groups would be paid for their
fetuses. One interviewee estimated payments could reach $30
million for fetus cells used to treat diabetics.
The answer leads to an inevitable conclusion: Where there's a
demand ? particularly one with a financial incentive ? there's
likely to be willing suppliers. And such a possibility threatens to
- fuel the flames of controversy already rampant, ultimately deal
ing a snarp diow to tne credibility ot the women's rights movement
as well as the medical profession, whether deserved or not.
The image of a black market for fetuses ? not unlike the illegal
sales, recently uncovered, of human body parts and entire
cadavers to mcdical universities ? comes too easily to mind.
It's difficult not to offend someone when an issue as loaded as
abortion comes into question. Nevertheless, it seems it's about
time for a re-evaluation of our ethical standards.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that women have a right to
carry a pregnancy to full term, or to abort it within certain time
constraints.
Now a new dimension has been added that the high court ruling
doesn't come close to addressing.
Surely, anyone who has kept up with the news will
acknowledge that issues aren't black and white anymore. For
each person who argues that abortion is a sin, there is another
person just as convinced that the issue is one of legal rights, not
of morality.
Medical advances are giving both sides enough messy fodder
to grapple with for years to come. Living wills, machines that
can sustain life long after the brain is dead, and preservation of
the body for possible future revitalization are some of the more
popular examples.
But there's something almost sinister about offering money
for fetuses.
Beyond the clouds of controversy, beneath the smooth
rhetoric of politicians and clanky language of laws, there should
betheuneasy feeling that something's just not right when a doctor
talks about the remains of a fetus as if they were no more
than mold growths on bread, just waiting to be turned into
penicillin.
Especially when the "mold" has such a tempting price tag.
Before the medical profession takes any further lurches forward,
perhaps some serious consideration should be given to the
consequences.
/MAZING1 MY COMPUJFR 1
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The Staff
Assistant Copy Desk Chief Historian
Andy Hcchtcl Hobby Jones
Assistant News Kditors Adviser
! Todd Mines Hill Rogers
Jeff Shrewsbury Director of Student Media
1 Assistant Features Editor Bill Clements
Firdous Bamji Production
Assistant sports Kditor Chuck Norris
Kac l.cigh Son Ha
Assistant Photography Kditor Advertising Manager
Jonathan Williams Margaret Michels
Datehook Kditor Assistant Advertising Manager
Jenny Sharpc Dawn Miller >
I .rlltrs Policy: !hi (*mf<o<k ?r> to print kll?r? received Ulltn thovld b*. at a maximom. 2*0 lo 300 *o/d? long. f,w#vt
rdltorlal* vhoufd nol rueed 500 wordt ret*the right lo ed>1 ktler* for *t}k or poMttrf# Rbtl Tht (>*m*<o<k will sot with told
name* under an> clrmm Manet.
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/TOS ONI BE
World does have some
I realized something sad the other day. I had
finished all my homework and did everything that
had to be done and then found myself terribly xJTUC&L
bored. So there I was ? your typical college stu- . # # ^
dent suffering from nothing-to-do-itis. I did all my f*Ct 1 tOVIf? /
studying; 1 did all my reading; and what did I get <jwg|g
for it? Boredom. Boredom, boredom, boredom. I Phil
But rather than go and make a nuisance of
myself with the general public, or go out and play, C>ardaci
or pick on little kids, I decided to do another
mature-type thing. I read the newspaper. bIf
you get the opportunity to read a newspaper,
don't. They're not only pessimistic, but they're I?????????
also downright depressing. Nothing but stupid ? You're an American.
violence and general waste. People (newspaper ? Charles Manson doesn't
people that is) feel compelled to inform you how neighborhood.
ugly certain little aspects of the world around you ? Your parents want you to use
are. Too rarely are you told about how life is sweet these days.
and wonderful. Too few times are you told where ? Literally thousands of planes
the beauty is, where the love is. landed without incident today.
Well, I got thinking about it, and 1 realized that ? You're not hopelessly failing
what I should do is supply a social demand. That ? You got to hang out with the
demand being good news, things to be happy day.
about, things to enjoy and like. Parts of our world ? They have Fruit Loops in th
that shouldn't be forgotten, things to think about cafeteria.
and be grateful for. ? You're not severely pcnnyle
The following arc suggestions for possible future yet).
headlines and/or just simple truths that we all tend ? Cool people such as George
to take for granted. Payton, James Dickey, Harrison
And now the good news. Lucas, Katheriiie Hepburn, Jerrj
? You're not dead. Asimov, Jimmy Buffet, Margaret
lVfvthc ahmii lifn 5m
XVJm.j Hlkj (4UUUI 111 ^ 111
The folio winy, is a scenario of what two of my ???????????????
friends may have experienced a week ago during
the earthquake that shook California, the state I
used to live in. The names have been changed to f
protect the innocent:
"Dude, DUUUUDE!" .-.+<
"Yeah, man? What gives?" <y> ? . *5
"I'm shaking all over. I'm gone, man! Game Oau 'r :
over!" HiflCS 7 ->
"Easy, Killer. Feels like rock 'n' roll."
"Gnarley."
Even though the quake was a 6.1 on the Richter |HjBE|L
scale, California didn't break off and float away as
some would'vc hoped. It's still there, man. 1
It ain't oninn nnu/^ni-n U^U?, /'-? ' ? * n 1 *'
.. ?... . irauy, vjci uacu iu n ? t'ernaps me reason is that virtuall
California is too attached. somewhere in the state at any gi\
It's officially one of the fifty nifties and ever haven for all those who don't war
shall be. Yet it remains the brunt of many can be, to be all they want to be. Tl
derogatory comments and jokes. better place for an army of Madoi
Whoa, dudes. to fade away than in the Golden S
I'm for a free society and ribbing arid all that F'erhaps it is the slew of beliefs
stuff, but just because someone lives or has lived tend to think of it as a modern
there doesn't make them a tofu packin", salad- Babel. It simply evolved that way.
minded hippie. Dig? Perhaps the groovy lingo makes
Why, oh why, has such a stereotype developed? "Surfese" is an undisputed state ol
Is it because they surf? Is it because they're so soon will the phrase "totally tul
ca/z'(a derivative of casual)? Is it drims. tans or hastic" makp it nati ?
California Coolers? "y'all" or "ya got that right, bo" v
Uncool. main singularly Southern.
Perhaps they are a misunderstood culture. It's often been said that Calift
They've never really understood the Bible Belt culture. If you tell someone you
either. next thing you know, you're get
Yearbook pics worth j
Everyone hates to pose for the yearbook. ???????
In my case, I have a special worry because my
great yearbook pictures have typically been every U
other year, with bad ones in between.
I have a name for that syndrome. It's Paula's '
The rule states if I take a great picture, the next I. Paula
one is terrible. ymr j
It's natural to be a skeptic when someone says, WQ)tOWlCZ
"l took a terrible picture." People tend to have a
universal dislike for their own photographs.
Remember in grade school when students saw their ^
pictures and said they looked awful? WHKKmM
This isn't what I'm talking about. L_???????
I'm talking about pictures so terrible that it's
embarrassing to have to explain it when people photograph that my face, even
don't believe you. bleached out.
Paula's Picture Rule, however, has developed an Another time, I had just arrived
optimistic corollary: if this year's photograph is band practice, and my face was
terrible, next year's is going to be better. sweat when the yearbook photogri
In other words, if you take a great picture, show Usually what happens is my sm
it off. grimace.
And if you don't, pray for next year. F'or each year I had a ba<
photographs from the year before
One horrendous shot wasn't even my fault. The What's most depressing is that o
lighting was so bright for the "professional" photographs, the 11th grade yearb
I
good news in it
I _ _ J
j kuin anu ur. j. arc not oniy around ana kicking,
/.* *,; but arc doing great things with their lives.
HLp ? You don't have to do aerobics if you don't
? The majority of the world isn't allergic to
Oreo cookies.
? God loves you.
. ? Our school colors aren't orange.
? Kelly's Barber shop isn't out of business; it
moved to 1504 Assembly St.
jj^ ? USC isn't in Rhode Island.
? Adolf Hitler is dead.
? Every couple of seconds, a new life comes in????"??"
to the world.
? Three out of the four Beatles arc still alive,
live in your ?Penn State lost to Alabama several weeks ago
(my personal favorite).
wuiuiatcpvivcs ? i iic uoooie uromers arc making a comeback,
and the Grateful Dead have never been
; took off and better.
? Some of the most attractive people in the
anything (yet). world are right here at USC. '
pope the other ? There are palm trees all over the place; that's
cool.
e Bates House ? No one has been killed by killer bees in the
past couple of years in the state of South Carolina,
ss (again, not ? You're not dead. Not only are you not dead,
but you're very much alive ? the world is yours.
Carlin, Walter Do it up.
Ford, George
' Lewis, Isaac And now for the bad news:
Thatcher, Dr. Ah, the hell with it.
ilifornia abound
. catalogs from national drug refineries. From what
I've seen, there are as many who just say "no"
i there as there are who say "yes" here."
If 1 Similarly, an opinion frequently bandied about a
's l'iat sur^ 's l^c worc*- This is basically true on the w
Vvcoast, but not inland and toward the north.
They've got trees ? redwoods. Real big buggers
you can drive a car through. There is much more to
|H the state than the beaches ? fer sure, dude.
California has been getting a raw deal. We need
her, man. And if she ever does go, this country will
be a arodier nlnct* wifhom if I ic?^r>.
I So why do I love her? Give me time, and I'll
explain.
ly anything goes / love the balmy shore of La Jollu and the surf of
'en time. It's a Seal Beach.
it to be all they And cruising Hollywood Boulevard where the
link of it. What crazies are in reach.
ma wanna-bees And the hum of bitchin' Camaros as they drive
tate? on down the strip.
and religions. 1 And the Raiders and the 'Niners and the Lakers
-day Tower of are a trip.
From the gold rush to the head rush, California
the difference, is her name. ^
rrnnci. ino time Because she's wild and she's wicked and will
jular and jam- never slay the same.
inset. Likewise, So ask me why I love her, I've got a million I
vill probably re- reasons why.
My heauti/ul California, beneath a head rush of
)rnia is a drug a sky.
lived there, the
ting mail-order Beautifi1' man!
i thousand groans
' one that still appears on my high school transcript.
The year before, I had posed for what I conMsidered
to be my favorite high school photograph,
t And the year after, my senior portrait was rather
a Paula's Picture Rule works.
That's why the picture on my columns is a year^F
| and a half old. I've tried several times to get it
retaken, but the rule unfortunately has haunted my
newspaper mugshots.
i Let's face it, not everyone looks like a model.
This year, my family is asking about my college
graduation photographs. It'd be nice to have a
great senior portrait.
But I took a terrific shot for this past year's
with makeup, Garnet and Black. My hair stayed in place; the color
was just right; I looked gorgeous. I wanted to
from marching get reprints, but didn't have the money.
still shiny with Paula's Picture Rule says if one year is great, the
iph was taken. next year is terrible.
lile looks like a This pa.^t year's was great. The time has come^
for another terrible picture.
J picture, the
had been great. And this year's Garnet and Black photograph?
>ne of my worst W>H be taken starting Monday, Oct. 12.
ook shot, is the I think it's time to panic.
-