Author: Mary C. Uhler

Jamie (not her real name) was young and smart. She had aspirations of being a veterinarian. But she found out she was pregnant. She thought that having a baby would destroy her dreams. To make matters worse, she believed that if her parents found out she was pregnant, they would kick her out of their home.

As the 2008 World Stem Cell Summit was scheduled to meet in Madison this week, new questions were raised about whether consent to use embryos left over from fertility clinics in stem-cell research was ever properly obtained.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported September 22 that Robert Streiffer, a professor of bioethics and philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, authored a study published in the May-June issue of the Hastings Center Report, a bioethics journal. Through a Freedom of Information request to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Streiffer made a request for the consent forms for the 21 stem-cell lines approved by President George W. Bush.

Nowadays we think of violence almost as an everyday occurrence. We see violence in the news, in movies, and on television shows. Sadly, an increasing number of people experience violence in their own lives, in their homes and neighborhoods.

We are being bombarded with news and ads about the presidential election and the political parties’ conventions. As citizens of the United States, we know that involvement in the political process and voting are important responsibilities.