I read the first sentence...

"Britons desperate to halt the ageing process are being injected with the stem cells of aborted foetuses..."

...then I read it again, thinking it was some sort of macabre joke...

"Britons desperate to halt the ageing process are being injected with the stem cells of aborted foetuses..."

Then I couldn't bear to read another word.

"Tom"
just a schmo in a choir

You know, I didn't even think of that angle. And it's almost Halloween and all.

Tom,

Unbelievable, isn't it? People who do this sort of thing -- get injected with dead baby cells so that their wrinkles will go away -- are just evil.

Andrea,

I've heard people call the use of embryonic stem cells vampirism before, but the comparison seems especially apropos in this case.

Totally. I even had disturbing dreams last night, prompted at least in part by all this. One of those dashing-from-room-to-room dreams in a hospital with the awareness that something wicked was taking place.

Tom
just a schmo in a choir

The first thing I thought of was the ancient story of a queen (or princess) who bathed in the blood of young virgins to keep herself looking young. Comes from the same area as the vampire legends. Humans are still willing to destroy others to get what we want.

Tom,

Yes, this is the stuff of nightmares. :-(

Barb,

This whole thing also makes me think of some cheesy movie called The Leech Woman that was featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In this movie, a woman has to kill to get a liquid from the base of people's skulls (from a gland) to be young-looking. The woman gets her comeuppance in the end, though.

The whole idea of staying young no matter what the cost (or who you have to kill) has inspired a lot of legends because it's an unfortunate part of human nature. Another result of the Fall.

"For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" -- Luke 9:25