U.S. bishops’ official: Stem cell
guidelines ignore science and embryonic humanity
Msgr. David Malloy, General Secretary of the USCCB
The U.S. bishops’ conference has submitted comment concerning the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines on embryonic stem cell
research, saying the rules ignore science, ethics and the humanity of
the embryo.
Msgr. David Malloy, General Secretary of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB), authored the comments. He said the proposed
guidelines miss an “enormous opportunity” to combine science and
“responsible ethics.” He declared it a “central fact of science” that
the embryo is a human being “at a very early stage of his or her
development.” Federal advisory groups had acknowledged this fact, Msgr.
Malloy said, citing the National Bioethics Advisory Commission
appointed by President Clinton.
The monsignor insisted it was a human right not to be subjected to
harmful experimentation and said laws which do not protect that right
are of questionable moral legitimacy.
Noting alternative methods of stem cell research such as induced
pluripotent stem cells, he decried President Obama’s executive order
which lifted funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
According to Msgr. Malloy, the order also lifted requirements that NIH
“thoroughly explore new avenues for obtaining pluripotent stem cells
without destroying human embryos.”
“Both science and ethics have been ignored in this decision,” he
charged.
“Avenues of stem cell research which pose no moral problem are now
showing great promise. In fact, human patients suffering from all the
conditions cited by President Obama when he signed his executive order
– cancer, juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury,
heart disease – have been shown in peer-reviewed studies to benefit
from clinical trials using human stem cells,” he continued.
“And in every case, the benefit has come not from embryonic stem cells,
but from the adult and cord blood stem cells that this organization and
others have said should receive priority attention.”
Msgr. Malloy said the guidelines do not seek to fund research in which
embryos are created for the purpose of research, but he said they were
“broader or more permissive” than any previous research policy in key
respects.
“As the President noted,” he said, “we must not make ‘a false choice
between sound science and moral values.’ In fact, these sources of
guidance both point in the same direction, away from destructive
embryonic stem cell research. His executive order and these Guidelines
nonetheless insist on a course of action that is both morally
objectionable and, increasingly, scientifically obsolete.”
“This is not merely a political or ideological problem, or a problem of
religious dogma, but a deeply human problem: We are testing the limits
of our obligation to treat all fellow human beings, of every age and
condition, with basic respect,” Msgr. Malloy said.
Source: Catholic News Agency
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Date: May 25, 200
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