sábado, 26 de novembro de 2011

Critic points out media bias against adult stem cells

By Marianne Medlin

.- After researchers in California called off a major U.S. embryonic stem cell study, a legal expert says that most major news outlets have given zero coverage to the far superior benefits of adult stem cells.

“Since embryonic stem cells were first derived, the media has told a materially unbalanced story,” said Wesley J. Smith, a lawyer and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism.

Smith said in a Nov. 23 interview with CNA that successful adult stem cell clinical trials “have either been ignored totally, or generally underplayed as story after story has claimed adult approaches offer more limited benefits than embryonic.”

His remarks come as the California-based biopharmecuetical company Geron announced on Nov. 18 that it has dropped a widely publicized embryonic stem cell research study.

Geron said that the FDA-approved study, which began in 2009 in attempt to treat spinal chord injuries, would have to end due to “capital scarcity.”

Fr. Tomasz Trafny, a member of the Vatican’s Council for Culture, said the move shows how companies are beginning to see that it's “not worth it to invest money, energy,” and “human potentiality” in embryonic stem cell research.

The decision by Geron to end its study is significant “because they publicly acknowledge that that they don't see any significant improvements in that research,” he told CNA on Nov. 23.

Fr. Trafny said the shut down is also important because “it shows that those who focused on adult stem cells were right not only because of potential clinical applications but also from ethical point of view.”

The priest is a key player in the Vatican's recent and unprecedented contract with NeoStem, a public firm pioneering new medical research with adult stem cells.

He noted that stem cells are the body’s master cells from which all of the body’s 200-plus types of tissue ultimately grow. Their versatility allows for potential in providing replacement tissue to treat countless illnesses and disorders.

However, despite the widespread advances of adult stem cell research as a potential cure, Wesley argued that media coverage on the topic has been scarce if not non-existent.

“No one forced editors and reporters to ignore the press releases and published studies that described the ongoing and very encouraging adult stem cell successes. They simply usually chose to overplay embryonic and underplay adult stem cell research in their reporting.”

Smith believes that a contributing factor to this is that the media generally view issues through a political or religious lens.

He said that “disdain for pro-life views” as well as “anti-Catholic” sentiments can impact a particular news outlet's analysis “of what constitutes an important story.”

“The media are particularly biased on 'cultural' issues and the embryonic stem cell controversy fits right in with that paradigm,” he added.

Smith said that in order to counteract this dynamic, alternative media “has to keep setting the record straight” and stay factually accurate in their reporting.

“In doing so, it is important that they not engage in the same journalistic malpractice from the other side,” he noted. “In other words, stick to the facts and don’t engage in the same kind of hype that the pro-embryonic stem cell research media have.”

Smith also said it's necessary to remind people “that the field is still young and many of the encouraging adult stem cell successes constitute early experimentation.”

“This is important both as a matter of credibility—the double standard that cuts against 'conservative' views may be unfair but it isn’t going away—and as an example of what real journalism looks like.”

sexta-feira, 25 de novembro de 2011

Steve Jobs: ‘I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion’

by John Jalsevac

November 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Since Steve Jobs’ death in October, numerous pro-life commentators have linked the fact that Jobs was adopted to the issue of abortion – pointing out how different the world would be if Jobs’ birth mother had simply chosen to abort her unwanted pregnancy.

But it turns out that pro-life groups weren’t the only ones to make the connection: Jobs himself did.

In the new authoritative biography of Jobs, biographer Walter Isaacson reveals how Jobs set out to find his birth mother in the early 80s, even hiring a private detective for the task.

While his first efforts to find his mother failed, Jobs persisted, particularly after his adoptive mother passed away in the mid 80s.

Jobs explained to Isaacson why he was so determined to find his biological mother:

“I wanted to meet [her] mostly to see if she was OK and to thank her, because I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion,” he said. “She was 23 and she went through a lot to have me.”

Eventually Jobs was able to find and reunite with his birth mother, Joanne Schieble. He said that after they met she would often burst into tears and apologize for giving him up for adoption.

“Don’t worry,” Jobs would respond, according to Isaacson. “I had a great childhood. I turned out OK.”


quinta-feira, 24 de novembro de 2011

Mas que Inferno!

Propositadamente, por saber que ele não gostava do que denominava “música de serrote”, tinha muito baixinho o volume do rádio do automóvel, sintonizado na antena 2. No entanto, ao ouvir os inícios de uma das admiráveis cantatas de J. S. Bach, fui aumentando o som, enquanto lhe dizia: repara-me nesta beleza! Que elevação! Que harmonia! Mas, ele, visivelmente incomodado ripostava: bah! Que horror! Apaga-me isso! E eu, mas ouve, presta atenção! Ao que ele, para minha maior surpresa, com esgares de repúdio e ademanes de nojo, tapou os ouvidos, às mãos ambas. E eu vencido, porque compadecido, mudei de estação emissora…

Este meu bom amigo deleita-se e extasia-se com aquilo que eu considero ruídos estridentes, dissonâncias estrídulas, chiadeiras estralaçadas, buzinetas estrupícias, estardalhaços fragoídos, enfim, abominações sonoras que são emitidos nalgumas estações de rádio, por maldade dos demónios ou para castigos dos povos, penso eu.

Música polifónica, barroca, clássica ou erudita são para ele ressonos insuportáveis e retumbos detestáveis. Um oratório de Haendel é para ele um suplício, uma sinfonia de Beethoven um tormento, uma cantata de Bach uma tortura, um Stabat Mater de Haydn uma sevícia, uma Missa de Mozart um inferno.

Este episódio deixou-me absorto. Meditando sobre ele recordei-me de ter aprendido que o Amor, a Beleza e a Bondade de Deus enquanto constituem para os bem-aventurados a felicidade suprema são, pelo contrário, para os condenados motivo de raiva e empedernimento no ódio. Assim se compreende que apesar de Deus amar os réprobos (por isso que são sustentados no ser e não aniquilados), por culpa deles, de nada lhes aproveita, antes, mais os mergulha na infelicidade e na desesperação.

Se as penas do purgatório são bem maiores que as terrenas (na tradição da Igreja isto parece pacífico entre os teólogos. Pelo contrário, se a menor pena do purgatório é maior do que a mais grande pena terrena, tese sustentada por St. Agostinho e S. Tomás d’ Aquino, é uma questão disputada, S. Boaventura, por exemplo, discorda dos Santos atrás mencionados), que dizer das do Inferno? Certamente não há palavras nem conceitos que as possam exprimir adequadamente. Se aquilo que são apenas “imagens” terrenas do Inferno eterno, como são as fomes, as pestes, as guerras, os genocídios, os holocaustos trazem consigo tantos terrores, horrores e pavores, que dizer da realidade do mesmo?

Felizmente, dê-mos graças ao Pai das misericórdias, que temos um Redentor que nos pode e quer salvar, Jesus Cristo total, Ele e a Sua Igreja. Ponto é que cooperemos com a Sua Graça.

Nuno Serras Pereira

24. 11. 2011

quarta-feira, 23 de novembro de 2011

Obispos alemanes se separan de editora acusada de publicar novelas pornográficas

BERLÍN, 22 Nov. 11 / 10:35 pm (ACI/EWTN Noticias)

Los Obispos católicos de Alemania informaron que venderán "sin demora" las acciones de las diócesis nacionales en una empresa editora que ofrece entre sus productos novelas pornográficas así como libros sobre satanismo y magia.

En declaraciones al diario alemán Welt am Sonntag el 22 de noviembre, el Arzobispo de Colonia, Cardenal Joachim Meisner, dijo que "no podemos ganar dinero durante la semana con aquello contra lo que predicamos los domingos".

El Weltbild Publishing Group es una de las casas editoras más grandes de Alemania. Tiene un ingreso anual de unos 2 mil 200 millones de dólares y unas 6.500 personas trabajando en sus oficinas.

Sus tiendas están ubicadas en las principales ciudades de Alemania y distribuye aproximadamente unas 2.500 novelas pornográficas, especialmente a través de sus sitios en Internet.

Actualmente, 12 de las 27 diócesis de Alemania poseen aproximadamente el 24 por ciento de las acciones del grupo editorial. Algunas diócesis, como la de Colonia, se separaron de la empresa en los últimos años.

El anuncio de hoy se enmarca en el enérgico pedido que el Papa Benedicto XVI hizo en su discurso al nuevo embajador de Alemania ante la Santa Sede el 7 de noviembre, para erradicar la prostitución y la pornografía en Internet.

Las informaciones sobre la venta de pornografía y satanismo en la casa editora aparecieron en la prensa solo días antes de la intervención del Santo Padre. Inicialmente los obispos alemanes habían emitido una declaración en la que señalaban que "una falla en el sistema de depuración" en la editora había permitido que los libros pornográficos salieran al mercado.

Sin embargo, Berhard Müller, editor de la revista católica alemana PUR declaró a los medios el 6 de noviembre que un grupo de fieles preocupados por este asunto enviaron un documento de 70 páginas a los obispos en el año 2008, con evidencias de que Weltbild publicaba pornografía, satanismo y libros de magia. Solicitaron por ello detener esas publicaciones de inmediato.

"Los creyentes se han quejado de esto con los obispos durante años", añadió.

En una declaración del 22 de noviembre, Weltbild indicó que recibe con agrado la decisión de los obispos ya que había sido imposible "restringir adecuadamente la diseminación y producción por Internet de medios que contradicen los ideales de los accionistas".

En su discurso del 7 de noviembre, el Papa Benedicto XVI dijo que "ha llegado el momento de detener enérgicamente la prostitución, así como la vasta difusión de material de contenido erótico y pornográfico, también a través de Internet".

"La Santa Sede –precisó el Papa– se comprometerá para que la necesaria intervención por parte de la Iglesia Católica en Alemania contra este tipo de abusos se realice de manera más clara y precisa".

segunda-feira, 21 de novembro de 2011

S.O.S. pela família: Homoparentalidade versus filiação - P. Gonçalo Portocarrero de Almada

A ideologia do género, na sua escalada contra a família natural, obteve no ano passado uma importante vitória, com a aprovação parlamentar do casamento legal entre pessoas do mesmo sexo. Uma tal reforma subverteu, em termos legais, o matrimónio civil, agora equiparado à união de duas pessoas do mesmo sexo. Mas, como a lei em vigor não permite que estas uniões possam adoptar, está em curso uma tentativa de substituir o conceito de filiação pela volátil noção de «homoparentalidade».

A homoparentalidade significa, em termos práticos, que é pai ou mãe não apenas quem gera biologicamente, mas também – e esta é a novidade – o seu cônjuge. Assim sendo, nada obsta a que uma infeliz criança possa ter duas mães ou dois pais e, a bem dizer, até alguns mais.

São recorrentes o uso e o abuso do princípio da igualdade, como fundamento jurídico desta pretensão. Mas o casal natural – homem e mulher – está legitimado para adoptar não só por estar casado mas, sobretudo, por ser realmente um potencial pai e uma possível mãe. Ora tal não acontece quando são duas pessoas do mesmo sexo. Por isso, é lógico que não se lhes permita a adopção, que frustraria a legítima expectativa do menor, o qual não precisa de vários tutores, mas de uma verdadeira família, ou seja, de um pai e de uma mãe.

As uniões do mesmo sexo querem o privilégio de um estatuto parental não fundado na geração biológica, mas na sua relação conjugal. Como se o facto de ser casado com o pai, ou a mãe, concedesse a alguém o direito de ser mãe, ou pai, dos seus filhos!

Mas se, por absurdo, se viesse a concretizar esta ameaça contra a família e se concedesse esta aberrante benesse às uniões de pessoas do mesmo sexo, seria então necessário, por razão do dito princípio da igualdade, dar esse mesmo direito aos casais de pessoas de diferente sexo. Com efeito, se o marido do pai também é pai, com mais razão o deveria ser o marido da mãe. E se a mulher da mãe é mãe, também o deve ser a mulher do pai.

Mais: se o filho do progenitor é também, juridicamente, filho do cônjuge deste, tem de ser igualmente herdeiro dos ascendentes da pessoa que casou com seu pai ou mãe. Portanto, se o príncipe herdeiro do Reino Unido tivesse a infelicidade de «casar» com Elton John, o filho deste passaria a ser filho do príncipe e, como tal, herdeiro do trono britânico, apesar de não ter nenhuma relação de parentesco com os referidos monarcas! Seria cómico, se não fosse dramático.

Na realidade, a homoparentalidade, ao substituir a filiação natural, destrói as noções de paternidade e maternidade. Porque ou a filiação legal está fundada na geração, ou então as palavras «pai» e «mãe» deixam de fazer sentido e nem sequer se distinguem. De facto, por que razão o marido do pai, ou a mulher da mãe, têm que ser, respectivamente, pai e mãe do filho do marido ou da mulher? Se pode ser pai, ou mãe, quem de facto não gerou tal filho, o marido do pai poderia ser mãe – na realidade, não sendo progenitor, não é mais pai do que mãe … – como a mulher da mãe deveria poder ser pai. No limite, o filho de dois indivíduos do mesmo sexo poderia ser legalmente filho de dois pais, de duas mães ou até – quem diria! – de um pai e de uma mãe!

«Se se põe de parte o Direito, que distingue o Estado de um grande bando de salteadores?», perguntava Santo Agostinho (De civitate Dei, IV, 4, 1), recentemente citado por Bento XVI. Se se ignora a ecologia familiar, se se falsifica a noção de casamento, equiparando-o às uniões entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, e se se substitui a filiação pela «homoparentalidade», que resta senão uma fraude e uma mentira?! Se à família se nega o seu fundamento natural, é a sua identidade que é negada e, na realidade, nada mais seria do que a factualidade de uma qualquer aventura em comum.

E não é preciso ser bruxo para adivinhar que as principais vítimas da destruição da família natural, em que tanto se empenha a ideologia do género, são, como sempre, as mais vulneráveis: as crianças.

Same sex adoption is not a game - by Richard Fitzgibbons, M. D.

In CERC

Moves by legislators and homosexual activists to endorse same sex adoption are misguided. Their intentions may be good, but they are ignoring the rights of children and important social and psychological research into the homosexual lifestyle.

The recent decision of Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois to separate from the Church and place children in same sex unions occurred after Illinois followed the lead set by other states and enacted legislation to protect so-called rights for homosexual unions. This legislation, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, denied funding to social service agencies that refuse to permit same sex adoption.

Experimenting on children by permitting adoption by same sex couples poses serious problems. Children have a right to and a need for parenting by both a father and a mother. This need should be recognized by the state and by professional groups as far more important than an adult's supposed right to adopt.

The views presented here are based on extensive social science research and scholarship, on my clinical experience as a psychiatrist that includes consulting with adoptive and foster children for several years, treating adoptive children for almost 35 years, writing about their treatment in a textbook for the American Psychological Association [1] and as the father of three adopted daughters.


The risks in same sex unions

Same sex relationships do not provide an ideal environment in which to raise children for several reasons.

First, same sex couples tend to be promiscuous. One of the largest studies of same sex couples revealed that only seven of 156 couples had a sexual relationship which was totally monogamous. Most of these relationships lasted less than five years. Couples whose relationship lasted longer incorporated some provision for outside sexual activity: "The single most important factor that keeps couples together past the 10-year mark is the lack of possessiveness," observed two scholars who were also partners, David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison. "Many couples learn very early in their relationship that ownership of each other sexually can be the greatest internal threat to their staying together." [2]

Second, the unions are very fragile. The probability of breakup is high for lesbian couples. In a 2010 report, the US National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, 40 percent of the couples who had conceived a child by artificial insemination had broken up.[3] Lisa Diamond reported in her book, Sexual Fluidity, that "more than two-thirds of the women in my sample had changed their identity labels at least once after the first interview. The women who kept the same identity for the whole ten years proved to be the smallest and most atypical group." If a woman in a same-sex relationship changes her identity label, the relationship breaks up.

And third, the couple may not necessarily be physically healthy. Dutch research has found that most new HIV infections in Amsterdam occurred among homosexual men who were in steady relationships. The researcher concluded that: "Prevention measures should address risky behavior, especially with steady partners, and the promotion of HIV testing." [4] Research shows that same sex unions suffer a significantly higher prevalence of domestic abuse, depression, substance-abuse disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases.[5] Should adopted children be placed with a couple at risk of a serious and emotionally draining illness?


Children need a mother and a father

The most important issue is the welfare of the child. Social science research has repeatedly demonstrated the vital importance of both a father and a mother for the healthy development of children and the serious risks that they face if they are raised without a mother or a father. Mothers and fathers bring unique gifts that are essential to the health of a child.

Among the many distinctive talents that mothers bring to the parenting enterprise, three stand out: their capacity to breastfeed, their ability to understand infants and children, and their ability to offer nurture and comfort.

Social science studies confirm this. Numerous reports indicate that infants and toddlers prefer mothers to fathers when they are hungry, afraid or sick. Mothers tend to be more soothing. Mothers are more responsive to the distinctive cries of infants; they are better able than fathers, for instance, to distinguish between a cry of hunger and a cry of pain. They are also better than fathers at detecting the emotions of their children by looking at their faces, postures, and gestures.

Children who were deprived of maternal care during extended periods in their early lives "lacked feeling, had superficial relationships, and exhibited hostile or antisocial tendencies" as they developed into adulthood.[6] Clinical experience suggests that deliberately depriving a child of its mother, motherlessness, causes severe damage because mothers are crucial in establishing a child's ability to trust and to feel safe in relationships. All cultures recognize the essential role of the mother.

Fathers also have distinctive talents.[7] Fathers excel when it comes to providing discipline, play, and challenging children to embrace life's challenges. They also provide essential role models for boys. Their presence in the home protects a child from fear and strengthens a child's ability to feel safe. The extensive research on the serious psychological, academic and social problems among youth raised in fatherless families demonstrates the importance of the presence of the father in the home for healthy child development.

The rights and needs of children to a mother and a father should be protected by the state. Adults do not have a right to deprive children of a father or a mother.


The children do suffer

There are strong indications that children raised by same sex couples fare less well than children raised in stable homes with a mother and a father.

In 1996 a well-designed study of 174 primary school children in Australia – 58 children in married families, 58 in families headed by cohabitating heterosexuals and 58 in home with homosexual unions – suggested that married couples offered the best environment for a child's social and education environment. Cohabiting couples were second best and homosexual couples came last.[8]

The results of a 2009 study of women in New York, Boston, and San Francisco are similar. Researchers interviewed 68 women with gay or bisexual fathers and 68 women with heterosexual fathers. The women (average age 29 in both groups) with gay or bisexual fathers had difficulty with adult attachment issues in three areas: they were less comfortable with closeness and intimacy; they were less able to trust and depend on others; and they experienced more anxiety in relationships compared to the women raised by heterosexual fathers.[9]


Flawed studies with positive results

Not surprisingly, there are scholars who oppose this weighty evidence. Two major studies published in 2010 are often cited by homosexual activists and the media. Nanette Gartrell and Henry Bos [10] and Timothy Biblarz and Judith Stacey [11] claim that children who were deliberately deprived of the benefits of gender complementarity in a home with a father and a mother suffer no psychological damage.

However, all data in the Gartell and Bos article are self-reports by the mother and the child. The mothers were aware of the political agenda of the research and this must have skewed the results. This defect in methodology severely weakens the report.

In the meta-study by Biblarz and Stacey, in 31 of the 33 studies of two parent families, it was the parents who provided the data, which consisted of subjective judgments. Once again, this created a social desirability bias because the homosexual parents knew the political agenda behind the study. Furthermore, of the 33 studies in two-person families, only two studies included men, although the title, "How does the gender of parents matter?" suggests that both men and women were fully represented.

Much of the research on same-sex couples tends to have serious methodological flaws. It is often argued that there is no evidence that children are harmed if they are raised by homosexual men. This is true, but the absence of evidence does not prove the case. It means that there is no evidence. Studies of children raised by homosexual men are rare. No studies have examined the long-term effects on adult males raised by homosexual men.


A grave injustice for adopted children

An adopted child has been separated from his or her biological parents. The child feels this loss. For this reason adoption agencies historically have sought the best possible placement – a sensitive and stable father and mother. A same-sex couple is by definition a second-class placement, since a parent of the opposite sex is missing.

A grave injustice to adoptive children is occurring as growing numbers of Catholic social service adoption agencies that have provided outstanding help to children, parents and families for decades are being denied the right to continue. Legislatures are placing the rights of homosexual unions to adopt above the needs and rights of children to a mother and a father.

Deliberately depriving a child of a father or a mother harms the child.[12] Social science research supports this view. Adoptive children have experienced early-life abandonment trauma and should be protected from the additional trauma of being exposed to a cruel social experiment. Will no one step forward to protect these children?


Notes

  1. Enright, R. & Fitzgibbons, R. (2000). Helping Clients Forgive: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books ,p. 187-89.
  2. McWhirter, D. and Mattison, A. 1985. The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop. Prentice Hall.
  3. Gartrell, N. & Bos, H. (2010) US national Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Psychological Adjustment of 17-year-old Adolescents, Pediatrics, Volume 126, Number 1, July 2010, 28-36.
  4. Xiridou, M. et al. (2003). The contribution of steady and casual partnerships to the incidence of HIV infection among homosexual men in Amsterdam. AIDS 17: 1029-38.
  5. D. O'Leary. (2007) One Man, One Woman: A Catholic's Guide to Defending Marriage Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 149-68.
  6. Kobak, R. (1999). "The emotional dynamics of disruptions in attachment relationships: Implications for theory, research, and clinical intervention". In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver. (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment (pp. 21-43). New York: The Guilford Press.
  7. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/july-dec99/fisher_8-16.html.
  8. Sarantakos, S. (1996) Children in three contexts. Children Australia, 21(3), 23-31.
  9. Sirota, T, (2009) Adult Attachment Style Dimensions in Women with Gay or Bisexual Fathers. Arch. Psych Nursing, 23, 289-297.
  10. Gartrell, N. & Bos, H. (2010) US national Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Psychological Adjustment of 17-year-old Adolescents, Pediatrics, Volume 126, Number 1, July 2010 p. 28-36.
  11. Biblarz, T. J. & Stacey, J. (2010). How does the gender of parents matter? Journal of Marriage and Family. 72, 3-22.
  12. Kobak, R. (1999). "The emotional dynamics of disruptions in attachment relationships: Implications for theory, research, and clinical intervention". In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver. (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment (pp. 21-43). New York: The Guilford Press.; Popenoe,D. (1996) Life Without Father, New York: Free Press, P. 176; Golombok, S. et al (1997) Children raised in fatherless families from infancy: Family relationships and the socioeconomic development of children of lesbian and single heterosexual mothers. J. Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38: 783-791; Gallagher M. & Baker, J.K. (2004) Do Mom and Dads Matter: Evidence from the social sciences on family structure and at the best interests of the child. Margins 161(4):161-180.