Embryonic Stem Cell Research - Fr. Derek Sakowski
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Today President Obama issued an executive order to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. This is a controversial issue that is usually misunderstood, and I thought it would be helpful to offer some clarifications.
(1) What are stem cells? Stem cells are cells that are not yet “differentiated.” In everyday language, they are not yet “programmed” to be a certain kind of cell (brain, nerve, heart, etc). Therefore scientists seek to find ways to use these cells to heal various illnesses and disabilities by “programming” them into the needed kind of cells.
(2) There are different sources from which scientists can obtain stem cells. The three main ways currently being used are from a newly conceived human embryo, from adults, and from the blood in an umbilical cord.
(3) There are no serious moral concerns about acquiring stem cells from adults or umbilical cords. Taking them from human embryos, however, requires killing an innocent human being, and is therefore murder.
(4) Some might contest my claim, but I defy anyone to tell me when human life begins, if not at the moment of fertilization! If I play my life backwards, one moment at a time, it is obvious that I began to exist as a human being the moment I was conceived. There is no other possible moment that one could claim as the beginning of human life.
(5) The only serious objection I have ever heard on this point is the claim that human life only begins 14 days after conception – when twinning is no longer possible. Their argument is that one embryo can still split into two up until those 14 days are complete. Admittedly, in the case of identical twins it is not easy to explain their “personal status” before and after the big split.
However, very few of us are identical twins! For all the rest of us, we began to exist at conception, and there was no change in our personal status at any time during those first 14 days of our existence. I am the same person I was 5 seconds after my conception.
(6) Obama’s executive order today was not a legalization of embryonic stem cell research. It was already legal, and has been going on with private (or state) funding for several years now. What he is doing is allowing federal tax money to be spent towards this research.
(7) Research companies are now stumbling over each other to get to the front of the line for receiving federal grants from the $787 Billion “Stimulus Package,” which should soon to be passed.
(8) I sincerely hope that "stimulus" funds are not used for this purpose, but given the timing it seems obvious that they will. I cannot see how spending federal tax money on embryonic stem cell research would stimulate the economy! In fact, it seems to me that with an $11 Trillion national debt and struggling economy this would be tax money better used elsewhere.
(9) To date, despite years of embryonic stem cell research, even despite a $3 Billion grant from the State of California, scientists have not had a single breakthrough in treating patients. None.
(10) By contrast, adult stem cell treatments have resulted in 73 successful treatments!
(11) In spite of this shocking disparity, some research companies (and most media professionals) insist that embryonic stem cell research has greater potentiality for cures. They call embryonic stem cells “pluripotent,” (they can be made into ANY organ) while adult stem cells are only “multipotent” (can only be made into tissue from the area from which they were drawn).
(12) Dr. James Thompson (Univ of Wisconsin) and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka (Japan) have both successfully altered adult stem cells into pluripotent cells, and insist that the process could be replicated.
(13) Even in spite of that breakthrough, and in spite of all the moral protests, some scientists, along with President Obama, still insist that billions of dollars must be spent on embryonic stem cell research.
(14) Here is why I think that so many companies prefer embryonic stem cell research. If your company is the one to have a major breakthrough, “creating” a line of stem cells that is able to cure a major disease, then you can patent those cells. In short, you’re rich.
They cannot, however, patent adult stem cells because those cells happen to be attached to the bodies of their owners.
Thus, even though there are 73 adult stem cell cures to 0 for embryonic stem cell research, universities and companies are much more eager for the embryonic approach. That’s where the money interest is. I have no proof, of course, but human nature is human nature, and business is business.
(16) Science is a wonderful thing, but is falling into the trap that “If we CAN do it, then it’s OKAY to do it.” Even if cures do begin to emerge from embryonic stem cell research, it is not morally justifiable. None of us (I hope) would be willing to murder our own brother or sister in order to be able to walk again. Why is it okay to kill human beings who just happen to be smaller and hidden away in a laboratory?
In the words of Dr. Seuss, “A person’s a person, no matter how small!”
For a much more in-depth discussion, see http://www.stemcellresearch.org
(1) What are stem cells? Stem cells are cells that are not yet “differentiated.” In everyday language, they are not yet “programmed” to be a certain kind of cell (brain, nerve, heart, etc). Therefore scientists seek to find ways to use these cells to heal various illnesses and disabilities by “programming” them into the needed kind of cells.
(2) There are different sources from which scientists can obtain stem cells. The three main ways currently being used are from a newly conceived human embryo, from adults, and from the blood in an umbilical cord.
(3) There are no serious moral concerns about acquiring stem cells from adults or umbilical cords. Taking them from human embryos, however, requires killing an innocent human being, and is therefore murder.
(4) Some might contest my claim, but I defy anyone to tell me when human life begins, if not at the moment of fertilization! If I play my life backwards, one moment at a time, it is obvious that I began to exist as a human being the moment I was conceived. There is no other possible moment that one could claim as the beginning of human life.
(5) The only serious objection I have ever heard on this point is the claim that human life only begins 14 days after conception – when twinning is no longer possible. Their argument is that one embryo can still split into two up until those 14 days are complete. Admittedly, in the case of identical twins it is not easy to explain their “personal status” before and after the big split.
However, very few of us are identical twins! For all the rest of us, we began to exist at conception, and there was no change in our personal status at any time during those first 14 days of our existence. I am the same person I was 5 seconds after my conception.
(6) Obama’s executive order today was not a legalization of embryonic stem cell research. It was already legal, and has been going on with private (or state) funding for several years now. What he is doing is allowing federal tax money to be spent towards this research.
(7) Research companies are now stumbling over each other to get to the front of the line for receiving federal grants from the $787 Billion “Stimulus Package,” which should soon to be passed.
(8) I sincerely hope that "stimulus" funds are not used for this purpose, but given the timing it seems obvious that they will. I cannot see how spending federal tax money on embryonic stem cell research would stimulate the economy! In fact, it seems to me that with an $11 Trillion national debt and struggling economy this would be tax money better used elsewhere.
(9) To date, despite years of embryonic stem cell research, even despite a $3 Billion grant from the State of California, scientists have not had a single breakthrough in treating patients. None.
(10) By contrast, adult stem cell treatments have resulted in 73 successful treatments!
(11) In spite of this shocking disparity, some research companies (and most media professionals) insist that embryonic stem cell research has greater potentiality for cures. They call embryonic stem cells “pluripotent,” (they can be made into ANY organ) while adult stem cells are only “multipotent” (can only be made into tissue from the area from which they were drawn).
(12) Dr. James Thompson (Univ of Wisconsin) and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka (Japan) have both successfully altered adult stem cells into pluripotent cells, and insist that the process could be replicated.
(13) Even in spite of that breakthrough, and in spite of all the moral protests, some scientists, along with President Obama, still insist that billions of dollars must be spent on embryonic stem cell research.
(14) Here is why I think that so many companies prefer embryonic stem cell research. If your company is the one to have a major breakthrough, “creating” a line of stem cells that is able to cure a major disease, then you can patent those cells. In short, you’re rich.
They cannot, however, patent adult stem cells because those cells happen to be attached to the bodies of their owners.
Thus, even though there are 73 adult stem cell cures to 0 for embryonic stem cell research, universities and companies are much more eager for the embryonic approach. That’s where the money interest is. I have no proof, of course, but human nature is human nature, and business is business.
(16) Science is a wonderful thing, but is falling into the trap that “If we CAN do it, then it’s OKAY to do it.” Even if cures do begin to emerge from embryonic stem cell research, it is not morally justifiable. None of us (I hope) would be willing to murder our own brother or sister in order to be able to walk again. Why is it okay to kill human beings who just happen to be smaller and hidden away in a laboratory?
In the words of Dr. Seuss, “A person’s a person, no matter how small!”
For a much more in-depth discussion, see http://www.stemcellresearch.org
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