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It's in the Subtext
12/12/2003

Kathryn Jean Lopez writes on efforts in New Jersey, the state of my childhood, to further the cause of cloning. She quotes an exchange from biotech lobbyist Michael Werner's June hearing before the presidential bioethics commission, in which Werner reluctantly admits that any boundaries to which scientists submit in order to pursue research will be considered temporary. This paragraph, particularly, could do with some explaining:

I think it's okay for us to say we've said it throughout history with new technology. It's okay to say, you know, this is something that's troubling, but now, you know, umpteen years later we for some reason feel like, you know, we can re-explore whether that's an appropriate limit. I will tell you that I have no view that, sure, we're going to move the goal post. I would say our view is 14 days because the primitive streak seems like an appropriate boundary, and that's where we are.

What do you suppose he means by "primitive streak"? Is this some biotech term that I don't know, or is he referring to our last vestiges of sane morality?

Posted by Justin Katz @ 02:40 PM EST