Tom the Dancing Bug - Saturday August 4, 2001 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling Bad Blastocyst Was it BAD? Or just misunderstood? After hours at "Sal's Fertility Clinic N' Stuff"... A cleaning woman accidentally bumps a cabinet. ...and a petri dish falls on her head -- killing her instantly! BONK But surviving the incident, in the dish, is a tiny human blastocyst! The nation is outraged and baffled! The New York Bugle Blastocyst Kills Woman! 16-celled killer shows no remorse TELEGRAPH DEATH DISH A trial is scheduled, and the prosecution sets the stakes! Lawyer: If this blastocyst can be considered living... Then we seek the death penalty! The defense team works day and night to save the cell-mass. Man: It was an accident! Man #2: It was self-defense! Man #3: It would degrade human life to destroy a blastocyst! Scientists call for embryonic execution. Scientist: We could use the stem cells for our research. This cell cluster that took a life... ...can be used to save a life! But at the last moment, the defense saves the day! Man: The genetic test is in! Man #3: The blastocyst contains the DNA of a retarded person! It would be unethical to execute it! A happy ending! Scientist: But what about the loss to medical research? Man #2: Here! Experiment on this chimp! Man #3: That's ethical! NEXT The victorious blastocyst exists through its remaining days (three) in peace, and then is discarded in the wastepaper basket by the copy machine.

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