What Are Stem Cells and Why the Interest in Them?
Stem cells are cells that have the potential to become many other kinds of cells, depending on the signals they receive. They theoretically provide avenues for replacing damaged or non-functioning tissue to treat many kinds of diseases. Stem cells are found from the beginning of embryonic development throughout adult life.
Is the Church Opposed to All Stem Cell Research?
NO! The church is not opposed to the use of stem cells obtained from adults because obtaining them does not harm the person. Adult stem cells have been successfully obtained from umbilical cord blood, skin, bone marrow and even fat! Adult stem cells and other ethically acceptable alternatives have already helped hundreds of thousands of patients and new clinical uses expand almost weekly. For example, adult stem cells have helped patients with juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injury, immune deficiency, and visual impairment.
The Church is opposed to the use of stem cells obtained from human embryos because the embryo is killed in the process of obtaining his/her stem cells. To date, embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human patient or demonstrated any therapeutic benefit.
What is an Embryo and Where do Scientists get Embryos for Research?
"Human development is a continuous process that begins when an [egg] from a female is fertilized by a sperm...from a male." The resulting cell, a zygote or embryo is the beginning of a new human being" and "marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual." (Moore and Persaud The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology 6th Edition, 1998 pg 2 and 18). Thus, as a member of our human family, the embryo, like the fetus, infant, adolescent and adult is a sacred and inviolable human person made in the image and likeness of God and may not be used for the benefit of someone or something else.
The embryos killed for their stem cells are about one week old and have grown to about 200 cells. Most of the embryos obtained for research come from in vitro fertilization (infertility) clinics. In these clinics, embryos are produced in petri dishes, then implanted in the wombs of women who are experiencing difficulty conceiving a pregnancy. Typically, more embryos are produced than are initially implanted in the mother in case future attempts at pregnancy are sought. If additional pregnancies are not sought, the parents must eventually choose to unthaw and destroy the embryos, give them to another couple who seeks a pregnancy, or donate them to science where they will be destroyed as part of research.
The Catholic Church teaches that in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies that replace or substitute for the conjugal act are contrary to God's design for procreation and therefore immoral. Reproductive technologies that assist the conjugal act to produce a child (such as fertility drugs or natural procreative technologies) respect God's design and are morally acceptable.
If the Embryos will be Destroyed Anyway, Why Not Use Them for Research?
In answering this question, one must remember the biological fact that embryos are human beings and therefore possess the same sacred dignity as any other human being. We, therefore, must not do to embryos what we would not do to more developed human beings (e.g. infants, adolescents, adults). There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who are currently terminally ill and will die soon. The likelihood that these human beings will die soon anyway would not legitimize killing them for medical research, even if it could help cure other people. Similarly, the likelihood that embryonic human beings may die soon does not make it acceptable to kill them for the benefits of others.
What Does President Bush's Stem Cell Decision Mean?
On August 9, President Bush announced that he will allow limited federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. No funding will be allowed for research that involves future destruction of human embryos. That's good. The president deserves credit for prohibiting at least for now, the use of taxpayer dollars for research that directly destroys human embryos. But the President will allow funding of research on more than 60 existing stem cell lines [a cell line is basically a culture of cells that continues to grow on its own] that were created from human embryos destroyed specifically for the purpose of creating these stem cell lines. That's bad. The President's rationale is that since these embryos have already been destroyed and the cell lines do not require any further killing, it is morally permissible to fund research on these cell lines.
There are several reasons why funding these existing stem cell lines is bad. First, it is quite likely that even limited government funding of this research might encourage more killing of embryos for more such research by privately funded companies by (a) removing some of its ethical stigma and (b) providing the "seed money" for the early non profitable stages of the research. Second, scientists will undoubtedly continue to kill additional embryos (and create new cell lines) with private funds and if these 60 existing lines prove inadequate they will recommend these new cell lines for use in federally funded research. Under the president's current rationale, it will be difficult for him to reject these new cell lines since the embryos used to create the cell line "have already been destroyed." Finally, it is possible that the research on these existing stem cell lines could result in therapies or cures that rely upon the destruction of more embryos.
All of these likely results are scandalous. Even though current taxpayer dollarswill not fund research that kills human embryos, any taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research will likely result in the killing of more human embryos. It will also spread an already pervasive view that it is permissible to kill some human beings for the benefit of other human beings.
For further information on stem cell research, check out these websites: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/index.htm - Bioethics and Reproductive Technologies
or
http://www.stemcellresearch.org.