Wrong reasons fuel embryonic stem cell research

Submitted on June 24, 2004

Send to friendNothing fills a moral vacuum like money. The issue of stem cell research perfectly illustrates this saying. Three decades of research in adult stem cells have resulted in great progress toward cures of formerly intractable diseases, like lupus, Parkinson’s and even heart disease. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have yet to cure a single human being. The research associated with them is fraught with many uncertainties, such as the danger of the development of cancerous tumors in lab animals treated with ESCs and genetic instability, which has become evident since the animal cloning experiments of the past 10 years. All the research indicates that despite what promoters of ESCs promise, adult stem cells do better and have a proven and successful clinical history. So why is this story so difficult to get out? Money. Hundreds of frozen embryos whose permission is not needed to harvest their cells are regarded by some researchers and drug companies as a "natural" resource waiting to be exploited. And the media are filled with misinformation on the issue of stem cells. We routinely read the incorrect assertion that the Catholic Church "opposes" stem cell research, and public figures such as former First Lady Nancy Reagan and actor Christopher Reeve have become convinced — wrongly — that such opposition is somehow threatening lives and preventing cures. While such misguided beliefs may play to long-established anti-Catholic prejudices and conform to media "scripts" that place the Church in the role of obstructor of science and knowledge, they have no relation to reality. The Church teaches that destroying embryos for cells or other genetic material is wrong — for whatever justification. According to the Church the embryo is a human subject and a human individual who has begun a coordinated and well-defined development. Even if it were true that ESCs might result in cures for some illnesses (which no one yet knows), that would never justify the creation for destruction of innocent life. Science already tells us that there is no reasonable justification for preferring fetal stem cells to adult stem cells. An enormous monetary investment has been made in the untested idea of fetal stem cells as miracle cures, and those behind the campaign of misinformation are seeking to protect their investment.