At the end of August last year these signs popped up around Cork City urging people to attend meetings against embryo research. In one fell swoop they reduced a very complex issue to the simple image of a smiling baby. The poster itself does have impact however.
They needn’t worry too much in Ireland. During our tour of Cork University Maternity Hospital someone asked about freezing stem cells. If the cells could be collected and stored properly then who knows? In 50 years time when a baby born today needs a heart transplant, could a new heart be grown from their own stem cells?
It doesn’t matter, under current EU law, a hospital must reach a certain standard to be legally allowed collect the cells and store them. Unfortunately the CUMH isn’t up to that standard, and this is a brand new 75m Euro facility.
2 Comments
Very political. I’m not sure where I stand in this matter, but it’s a good punchline nonetheless.
I’m not sure where I stand on this one either, but the sign is absolutely disgusting. (Nothing wrong with the photo BTW!). I just think it’s very, very cheap to use a picture of a baby in this way, given that (he/she)’s no more an embryo than I am.