Why don't they just go ahead and bake them into little green crackers and get it over with. You know they want to.

That's disgusting on so many levels, it's hard to know where to start. Nobody is less compassionate of convicts than I am, BUT, this goes WAY beyond anything I could have thought up. Then again, this is China, it's an entirely different world over there, yikes.

Well as I pointed out, it doesn't take much to be a convict in China. Standing in public and protesting the actions of your government can get you years as a slave. Practicing a religion which the government doesn't like can get you locked up. It doesn't take much to end up in a lipstick tube.

It's no wonder China's economy is booming, when we relied on slave labor, we did pretty good too.

Odds of us going over there to "spread Democracy"? Didn't think so.

This is wierd. I totally abhor the Chinese regime. From their slave labor to jailing pretty much anyone they want too.

If this were say... America and some american company was "Harvesting skin" from deceased convicts (With their prior permission of course), I wonder how it would shake out. I personally find the thought disconcerting, yet how would it be different from using stem cells for producing life saving medicine?

chuck that one little excerpt seems to open up a WHOLE can of Morality based conversations.

Soylent Green anyone?

Jay

I cannot equate harvesting stem cells from a destroyed embryo for the greater good with harvesting skin from executed convicts (many of whom are arrested for such heinous crimes as passing out leaflets or protesting the actions of their government) to enhance the profits of a cosmetics company. There are so many disparities I see in that I don't know where to begin.

Religious beliefs aside, as far as I'm concerned an embryo is not a human being. I discussed this at length in the runup to the last election.

There is no indication that these prisoners gave permission for their skin to be harvested. They were denied this right (and many others.) Embryos don't have the same rights as human beings do IMHO. Destroying an embryo at 14 days is denying it the right to life, but not the right to choose. Embryos can't make choices. They have no free will, consciousness, or even desires.

The harvesting of stem cells has as one of it's primary goals learning how to culture such cells in the lab so that more can be made without having to destroy any further embryos. I can see no such goal in harvesting the skin of executed prisoners.

Finally, the proposal to destroy embryos which currently have no futures for medical advances that could lead to treatments of chronic debilitating illness or currently irreversable injuries, is far better than harvesting collagen from dead prisoners to make lipstick with.

If it was an American company, and the prisoners gave permission, how would it shake out? I dunno. It might not be immoral but it would still be creepy, and I can't think of anyone I know that would want to apply makeup made using tissue from dead prisoners. Plus there could be risk of disease transmission. I think, as a business venture, it would be a complete flop, so I don't think it will ever happen here.