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BioTalk

BioTalk is a pro-life video series about all things bioethics, especially those issues related to human biotechnology — cloning, embryonic stem cell research, genetic engineering, transhumanism, etc… Hosted by: Chelsea Zimmerman: Chelsea is the editor-in-chief for Catholic Lane and a managing editor at Ignitum Today. She often writes and speaks about life issues and Catholic spirituality. She has been featured on EWTN’s Life on the Rock. Her website is Reflections of a Paralytic. Rebecca Taylor: Rebecca is a clinical laboratory specialist in molecular biology, and a practicing pro-life Catholic who writes at the bioethics blog Mary Meets Dolly. She has been writing and speaking about Catholicism and biotechnology for six years and is a regular on Catholic radio.
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Nov 6, 2016

The first GMO baby was born this year using the "3-parent IVF" method called “maternal spindle transfer”. If not for the Aderholt amendment to the 2015 omnibus spending bill, which prohibits the Food and Drug Administration from entertaining any submission that proposes “research in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include heritable genetic modification”, that baby would have likely been manufactured in the United States. Let's keep human genetic experimentation out of our country! 

Oct 17, 2016

Whether you’re getting tested for legitimate health reasons or just to find out “who you are” and where you came from, you should be aware that once your DNA` leaves your body you have zero control over what happens to it.

Jul 29, 2016

Scientists love to give themselves "ethical guidelines" -- only to "reevaluate" and revise those guidelines when they are no longer convenient.

May 6, 2016

Speaking with Dr. David Prentice about what, if anything, is being done to stem the tide of human genetic engineering in the United States -- and if there's *any* hope for tighter, more permanent restrictions in the future.

May 6, 2016

Last year the UK became the first in the world to offer controversial ‘three-parent’ fertility treatments. This year they approved the use of CRISPR to edit genomes of human embryos.

In the latest episode of BioTalk, we discuss how scientists and governments have re-engineered language to sell the public on embryo-re-engineering (http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/scientists-governments-re-engineer-language-to-sell-public-on-embryo-re-eng/).

We also look at the long-term implications of genetic enhancement. Specifically, how enhancement leads to coercion and the loss of human dignity (http://www.catholiclane.com/the-seductive-siren-song-of-genetic-enhancement/).

May 6, 2016

Speaking with Jim Cole, General Counsel for Missouri Right to Life, about IVF "custody battles" and what's in the best interest of the embryonic children involved.

May 6, 2016

Speaking with chemistry and physics instructor, Dr. Stacy Trasancos.

Stacy reminds us that it really doesn’t take any undercover investigating to find proof that abortion providers have been supplying scientists with aborted fetal body parts — sometimes even whole, intact, live fetuses — for research, much of which, like Planned Parenthood, receives funding from the Federal Government.

This information is and has been widely available in scientific literature dating back decades.

May 6, 2016

The ethical considerations of the possible world's first head transplant and and other extremely invasive medical procedures, our tendency to treat mental diseases as physical diseases, recent comments from the Vatican on plastic surgery and how it relates to transhumanism and the importance of “bodily integrity.”

May 6, 2016

British MPs voted to make the UK the first country in the world to offer controversial ‘three-parent’ fertility treatments.

May 5, 2016

At the National Right to Life Convention this summer, Chelsea caught up with Dr. David Prentice, Senior Fellow for Life Sciences at Family Research Council, and chatted with him a bit about the current status of the great “stem cell debate”, how scientists are tinkering with human life these days and what, if any, positive signs he sees for trying to stop this train at some point.

May 5, 2016

In this episode we take a look at how transhumanism is portrayed in some modern movies and television shows.

However its portrayed, for good or for ill, we should use these forms of entertainment as an opportunity to have a serious conversation about our transhumanist future. Especially now such a future is not as far fetched as we once thought it was.

May 4, 2016

Our society seems to have a split personality when it comes to genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

May 4, 2016

IVF advocates desperately want us to believe that biology is irrelevant when it comes to "family," but the testimonies of countless donor conceived children, prove otherwise.

May 2, 2016

The modern search and destroy mission to wipe people withDownsyndrome off of the planet through eugenic abortion has takensomuch love and joy out of the world.

In this episode, Rebecca Taylor and Chelsea Zimmerman"raiseawareness" about the good news about Down syndrome. Not onlyislife with Ds not as bleak as most parents are told when theirchildis prenatally diagnosed, but scientists are makingsignificantadvancements in being able to treat some of the moreseriousside-effects of the disorder.

Links:
Extra Chromosome Silenced in Down Syndrome Cells: http://catholiclane.com/extra-chromosome-silenced-in-down-syndrome-cells/

Mom: "Down Syndrome Research, Hope for My Daughter": http://www.marymeetsdolly.com/blog/index.php?/archives/1334-Mom-Down-Syndrome-Research,-Hope-for-My-Daughter.html

Be Not Afraid: http://www.benotafraid.net/
Jérôme Lejeune Foundation USA: http://lejeuneusa.org/

Mar 30, 2016

Chelsea Zimmerman and Rebecca Taylor discuss recent advancements in human cloning.

Mar 30, 2016

What does the Catholic Church have to say about biotechnology and is she really as backward thinking as most people believe she is?

Feb 16, 2016

Should Lance Armstrong be celebrated as a "pioneer in human enhancement"? Rebecca Taylor and Chelsea Zimmerman discuss the transhumanist movement, which seems to be starting in the world of sports with performance enhancing drugs.

Jan 29, 2016

In October of last year, scientists in Oregon made embryos with genes from one man and two women: http://lacrossetribune.com/oregon-scientists-make--parent-embryos/article_d4035b9a-1e62-11e2-8218-0019bb2963f4.html

Rebecca and Chelsea discuss this kind of genetic engineering and the "Brave New" United States where there are no restrictions on this or other once unthinkable kinds of human experimentation currently in practice. We also discuss the impact this kind of experimentation has on women.

Jan 28, 2016

While genetic testing isn't bad, in and of itself, it can be used unethically.

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