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Monitoring Stem Cell Research 
Rabbinical Assembly passed a resolution in April 2003 supporting stem cell research 
for therapeutic purposes. (Resolution in Support of Stem Cell Research and Education, 
April 2003: available at www.rabassemblv.orQ . ) 
Alpers and Lo draw the distinction between commodification and 
commercialization as follows: "The issue of commodification involves treating either 
humem beings or symbols of human life as merchandise or vendible goods. . . . 
Commercialization refers to the practice of realizing large profits from the development 
and sale of techniques or products that involve distinctive human material, such as 
embryos, eggs, or tissue" (Alpers and Lo, 1995). 
" Radin quotes Georg Lukacs on the reification of commodities and the effects on 
human consciousness. Lukacs writes: "The transformation of the commodity relation 
into a thing of 'ghostly objectivity’ cannot therefore content itself with reduction of all 
objects for the gratification of human needs to commodities. It stamps its imprint 
upon the whole consciousness of man; his qualities and abilities are no longer an 
organic part of his personality, they are things which he can ‘ovm’ or *disp>ose of like 
the various objects of the external world" (Radin, 1996, 82). When we think about 
genes for enhancing memory or muscle mass, it is worth keeping in mind Lukacs’s 
claim that human qualities and abilities may come to be thought of as objects for sale 
in the external world. 
Erik Parens has noted the importance of attending to the big picture raised by 
stem cell work and how the politics of abortion has obscured that picture. See Parens, 
2000. 
In another essay, Glannon argues that substantially increasing the human life 
span would profoundly affect issues of personal identity and thus a sense of personal 
responsibility for one’s action. He ties his argument in interesting ways to the biology 
of memory function (Glannon, “Identity"). For a classic philosophical discussion of the 
problems associated with immortality, see Williams, 1973. 
Although he is not discussing stem cell research explicitly, Paul Reibinow’s 
discussion of technological change wrought during the last two decades is worth 
noting. He writes: “In the United States, for example, in the last two decades, while 
the most passionate value conflicts have raged around abortion, a general reshaping 
of the sites of production of knowledge has been occurring. To cite the biotechnology 
industry, the growing stock of genomic information, and the simple but versatile and 
potent manipulative tools (exemplified by the polymerase chain reaction) is to name a 
few key elements; a more complete list would include the reshaping of American 
universities, the incessant acceleration in the computer domains, and the rise of 
’biosociality’ as a prime locus of identity a biologicalization of identity different from 
the older biological categories of the West (gender, age, race) in that it is understood 
as inherently manipulable and re-formable" (Rabinow, 1999, 13). A couple of pages 
later, he writes; "My analysis points to the fact that the basic understanding and 
practices of ’bare life’ have been altered. The genome projects (human, plant, einimal, 
microorganismic) are demonstrating a powerful approach to life’s constituent matter. 
It is now known that DNA is imiversal among living beings. It is now known that 
DNA is extremely manipulable. One consequence among many others is that the 
boimdaries between species need to be rethought; transgenic animals made neither 
by God nor by the long-term processes of evolution now exist (16). 
For a science fiction exploration of this theme of selected genetic enhancement, 
species boundary crossing see Octavia Butler, Dawn . 
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