Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers - August 2006 Awake!

by AnnOMaly 55 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  sir82

  Scientists tend to refer to blood constituents in terms of dry weight when making statements of amount by comparison. By dry weight hemoglobin comprises about 97 to 98% of a red cell. If you include the water measure of a red cell then, by comparison, hemoglobin makes up approximately one-third of the red cell.

  Interesting....

  So the Society had 2 options when writing about what percentage of a RBC is comprised of hemoglobin.

  They could have gone with the "dry weight" method, 97-98%, and most JWs would likely think, "ooh, that's pretty close to almost entirely a RBC, better not accept it."

  Instead, they used the "with water" method, emphasizing that just one-third of an RBC is composed of hemoglobin. JWs would then have a tendency to think, "One-third? That's less than half, so I guess that means it is a 'minor fraction'. Maybe I can accept it after all."

  If correct, that lends credence to the other posters' ideas that this is a softening of policy.
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  frozen one

  I had a discussion about the blood fractions issue with my mom a while back and she confessed that she was troubled by this particular "new light" or whatever its called. I made sure to point out that whatever the JW position is regarding what is acceptable to take regarding blood fractions, that until witlesses were allowed to roll up their sleeves and donate a pint to replace the fractions they were using, they were parasites on the community. Using a product that comes from blood others donated and then not donating blood in return is truly selfish. Mom doesn't try to draw me into discussions about jw crap anymore.
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  AnnOMaly

  It seems that I had read [perhaps on AJWRB site?] though, that the hemoglobin represented 97% of the RBC. Anyone know? Have they intentionally mistated the percentage to make it more palatable in the eyes of some witnesses? Making it more a fraction with this statement?

  Within each red blood cell are some 300 million hemoglobin molecules. Hemoglobin represents about one third of the volume of a mature red cell.

  That comment also puzzled me. I scanned the web to find more info. Jourles and Marvin have covered it. But these are a couple of quotes I found:

  "About 95 percent of the dry weight of the red cell consists of hemoglobin" (Encyclopedia Britannica)

  "...an MCHC [mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration] of 30-35% would generally reflect a population of cells described as normochromic normocytic." (www.ascls.org ... didn't note down the full url)

  But it's worth remembering that the Awake article also said that one of the objections to taking in a HBOC may be that "hemoglobin ... makes up a significant portion of that [primary] component." So if I've understood the above 2 quotations from the net correctly, I do not think the WTS are being misleading on the proportion of hemoglobin in a RBC.
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  mcsemike

  First, I'm so sorry for all of you who lost family or friends because of this. I think many have hit the nail on the head. The WT is trying to play legal word games. They want their cake and to eat it too. If they word this the right way, they can (they believe, we'll see in court later) avoid lawsuits. Yet they can still punish those who don't follow the "read between the lines" instructions they are really giving. As someone earlier said, I can't wait until they are flushed down the toilet where they belong.
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  M.J.

  Remember, there's also a key difference between mass and volume. The WTS says hemoglobin constitutes 1/3 of the volume of a RBC. It makes no sense to use a volume comparison rather than a mass comparison. Volume isn't necessarily a good indicator of the amount of a substance present. Volume units don't fly on food product "supplemental information" labels mandated by the FDA.
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  Jourles

  It's like trying to argue that a pound of feathers is lighter than a pound of steak. If a red blood cell weighs an X amount and the hemoglobin inside that rbc weighs 97% of X, this is what counts.
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  ToServeMan

  I believe the real shame in all of this is the many JW the were expelled because they chose to live. Now, you may be able to make the same choice and not be expelled. I wonder what all the JWs that were expelled would do if the GB extended an olive branch to them asking them to return without fear of exclusion. Most would not return I think.
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  Anitar

  I agree with just about everyone so far, I just have one thing to add. Does it seem a little hypocritical that the WT uses all sorts of "reliable"sources of information like secular, educational, and governmental to support this policy, yet they forbid involvement with them to the rank and file. Even the dumbest of the brainwashed borg have got to ask themselves, "Why are they quoting people in Satan's system?" I think that would give a very mixed message to the rank and file, especially young ones who want to go to college, and read tripe like this.

  Also, if you Google some of the sources and people they quote, they are usually from a medical or goverment organization in Europe, from a seminar, lecture, or conference. Coincidently, you usually have to be a member of the particular organization to attend. Sound familiar? UN NGO scandal anyone?

  Anitar
• 

  Khufu

  "Blood - Why so valuable?"

  Yes, valuable indeed. More than life it seems.

  Wait a minute. Blood is the symbol of life, right? Which should be more valuable?

  I'm so confused here. And where in the Bible do they read about the "sacredness" of blood?

  Now, those pharisaic reasonings are most incredible. They filter the hemoglobin, and swallow the poor dubs alive.
• 

  Mr Ben

  They're mad, truly mad!! It's all doublespeak of course!

  To the initiate: Read between the lines. Be prepared to sacrifice yourself or your loved ones or we will destroy you. You can't even use/store your own blood!

  To the outsider: Look, of course it's a matter of concience, they can even use blood products from cows! See how reasonable we are!