[extropy-chat] Bush and Kerry on abortion funding

[Damien Broderick]

At 12:31 PM 10/11/2004 -0500, I wrote:

 >Adventists aghast that hospitals are funded *with their money* to 
transfuse blood

Oops. I probably should have written `Jehovah's Witnesses'. The former 
theologian Spike Jones will be down on me like a wolf on the fold. I do 
find this softening of position:

http://www.ajwrb.org/newsmedia/press.shtml

<Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their rejection of blood transfusion, 
even when it is necessary to save life. The controlling organization of 
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower Society, has required that Jehovah's 
Witnesses reject blood transfusions since 1961. Nevertheless, in recent 
years the Watchtower Society has permitted Jehovah's Witnesses to accept 
some blood products like albumin.

The June 15, 2000 issue of The Watchtower (an official church publication) 
announced that Jehovah's Witnesses may now accept "fractions of any of the 
primary components" of blood. Previously Jehovah's Witnesses had been 
permitted to accept only fractions of blood plasma without facing possible 
expulsion from the church.

This expanded policy will permit church members to accept numerous 
additional blood therapies and treatments. The Watchtower specifically 
mentions interferons and interleukins from white cells and a wound healing 
factor from platelets. More importantly, the policy apparently opens the 
door to the use of hemoglobin based blood substitutes like "PolyHeme", that 
are close to obtaining FDA approval. Since hemoglobin is obtained from 
fractionating red cells, it would be permitted under the policy the 
Watchtower Society recently announced.

This is an important development since hemoglobin based blood substitutes 
have the potential to save many Jehovah's Witness lives that are presently 
being lost in cases of trauma or surgery with massive blood loss. >

So even silly ideas can become modified under the pressures of reality.

Damien Broderick