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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

What's Wrong with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge?

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Embryonic Stem Cell Comics

First of all, I want to say that pouring a bucket of ice cold water over your body is not wrong (unless you have pulmonary illness). There is also nothing wrong with taking video of you being drench with ice cold water. These two activities are harmless (well again, unless you have pulmonary disease).

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was initiated by the ALS Association and caused a worldwide sensation. Even local celebrities, like Kris Aquino, and government officials accepted the challenge. The challenge already generated about $94.3 million since August 27.1 The collected funds will be used to fund research for cures against ALS.

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which is a “progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord”.2 This means that ALS causes motor neurons to degenerate and die. Motor neurons are nerve cells that links the brain and muscles to initiate voluntary movements.  The mass degeneration of neurons makes the patients with ALS to become paralyzed at the later stages of the disease.

Unfortunately, the ALS Association supports researches that use of embryonic stem cells. This means that the money collected during the ice bucket challenge will be used to those kinds of research.

I read in LifeNews that the stem cells were collected from the spinal cord of an aborted eight-week old fetus.

In short, ALS Association is OK with abortion for the sake of getting a cure. Supporting abortion, which is murder of yet-to-be-born human beings, is a grave crime. And the use of their dead body is also an immoral act against that murdered person.

ALS Association’s support to the use of embryonic stem cells prompted Catholic dioceses in USA to not support the ice bucket challenge. The CBCP president also sounded the alarms about this issue, which is the right thing for them to do.

The conviction of the people to help ALS victims is a good thing. The Church actually encourages all of us to help the sick, including those who have ALS. Remember that our Lord Jesus healed the sick and the Church follows His example.

There’s nothing wrong in raising awareness or to donating for the ALS cure. What’s wrong is ALS Association blatant disregard to human life. What’s wrong with the ice bucket challenge is that people joined the hype without doing a background check on the people who created this event. What’s wrong is these people may have unwittingly gave money that will be used to murder helpless human beings for the sake advancing scientific knowledge.

The end doesn’t justify the means.
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