Spanning from the generations of yesterday to the leaders of tomorrow, there is in America a deepening rift amongst our people. It is between those who uphold traditional values and those who would make decisions based on outcome. One issue resurfacing to the limelight and giving evidence to this rift in our country is human embryonic stem-cell research.
The recent death of President Reagan has sparked a new debate over stem-cell research. President Reagan long suffered from Alzheimer's disease. The loudest argument for human embryonic stem-cell research is that it may have the potential to improve the quality of life for millions who suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Diabetes.
Ironically, proponents of this argument ignore the fact that methods used in this type of research actually destroy human life. The research requires the destruction of human life to research into what some claim are future lifesaving therapies. Such "science" does nothing to promote a culture of life in America.
Currently in the U.S., more than 100,000 "excess" embryos or "fertilized eggs" are stored in deep freeze. Each of these is a living being, the youngest form of mankind, just waiting for the right conditions to grow and mature into a baby. Some of the embryos have that opportunity through in vitro fertilization and implantation. But many more "leftovers" from fertility treatments will eventually be discarded.
The media, along with advocates of embryonic stem-cell research, often emphasize the phrase "would otherwise be discarded" to excuse the use of embryos in research. Actor and paraplegic Christopher Reeve asked in his testimony before the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee for the U.S. Senate, "Is it more ethical for a woman to donate unused embryos that will never become human beings, or to let them be tossed away as so much garbage when they could have helped save thousands of lives?"
Pro-life advocates believe that science should never progress at the cost of human life. University of Chicago bioethicist Dr. Leon Kass, chairman of the committee appointed by President Bush to monitor stem-cell research said, "It's important that we achieve our benefits in medical and health without undermining what is humanly decent and dignified. Our task really is to find a way to reap the benefits of medical science without undermining human dignity or human decency."
Hence the debate. Many in today's moral climate will overlook the individual humanity of an embryo in order to adopt a utilitarian philosophy that justifies the destruction of that embryo because of a possible - but certainly not guaranteed - greater benefit to society through research.
President Bush's decision in August 2001 set some limits on embryonic stem-cell research: The government funds only the 78 embryonic stem-cell lines established before August 9, 2001. This decision does not endorse the killing of more embryos but does allow research to continue on ones that have already been destroyed.
Though the President's initial decision in 2001 was a middle ground approach with a political eye to pleasing both sides, research proponents have never been satisfied. From the very beginning, they claimed that the decision "hampered research" delaying the potential treatment from disease sufferers. Within weeks of President Bush's decision, the U.S. Senate held hearings decrying the President's federal funding policy. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), the primary force behind these hearings state, "Many in the scientific community are concerned that the president's decision . . . will delay development of cures for dread diseases for many years, at the cost of countless
lives and immeasurable suffering."
Just last month, fifty-eight senators returned to the stem-cell debate by joining to write a letter asking President Bush to ease federal restrictions on the research. According to the Associated Press, the letter complains that only 19 of the 78 embryonic stem cell lines are available to researchers at this time and that their use for humans is uncertain because of contamination. (Associated Press "58 Senators Seek Looser Stem-Cell Rules," June 7, 2004)
Regardless of whether or not embryonic stem-cell research is funded by tax dollars, scientists are receiving private funding where federal dollars are not paying up. This causes concerns for pro-life advocates. Because private sectors are not limited by federal regulations, commercial value may possibly overtake moral and ethical restraint down the slippery slope of destructive human research and experimentation. For example, a team of scientists at the Jones Institute, a biotech research center, used private funds to create embryos for the express purpose of destroying them in stem-cell research.
Presumed ends never justify the means. Even with the prospect of benefiting the lives of others, research that destroys human life remains unethical and immoral. Human life is not property to be disposed of at will, and a society that continues on the path of killing its own will ultimately self-destruct. Returning to a culture of life is America's only viable option.
Pena wrote a similar article for The Family Research Institute of Wisconsin. All quotations that are not cited are from that article. Mailing address: Family Research Institute, PO Box 2075, Madison WI 53701-2075
Additional Information on Stem Cell Research from Human Life of Washington:
Successful Use of Adult Stem Cell Therapy
Embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human patient or demonstrated any therapeutic benefit. By contrast, adult stem cells and other ethically acceptable alternatives have already helped hundreds of thousands of patients, and new clinical uses expand almost weekly. Here is a small sample of the successful uses in treatment thus far:
- Autoimmune Disease
- Potentially Fatal Skin Disease
- Human Pancreatic Stem Cells
- Fatal Blood Disorder
- Juvenile Diabetes
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Immune Deficiency
- Corneal Repair
- Brain Tumors
- Repairing Heart Damage
- Cancer Treatments
- Heart Disease
For more information on stem cell therapies, go to the web site, Do No Harm, at: http://www.stemcellresearch.org
Why we Oppose Embryonic Stem Cell Research
At conception, each of us becomes a self-possessed human person. We possess our own future; it belongs to us uniquely and to no one else. No matter our size, present within us at conception is the complete design of what we are meant to be, as well as the guiding force, or impetus, that brings that development about which is contained in our own, unique DNA, present in every single cell of our bodies. This power, and the information necessary to direct it, must be present at conception in order for development to occur.
Our dignity and humanity at conception are often obscured by labels assigned to stages of development, such as "zygote," "blastocyst," "fetus," or "infant." But, an embryo is not less of a human being than an infant, anymore than a child is less of a human being before puberty than after. At every stage, we are whole human beings.
Nor does the inability to perceive personhood in others serve as proof that it must not be present. One's own lack of clarity does not alter objective reality. We cannot earn for ourselves, or bestow on others, what is already ours by nature.
This decision to allow the destruction of embryos for research into various cell therapies is inherently wrong because it destroys an innocent, preborn human being. In the moral and ethical equation, taking a human life--even at its most elementary, prenatal state-in the hope of saving other lives, does not add up to a net gain. One cannot overlook evil means to accomplish a supposed "good" end.
Finding a balance between a perfectly legitimate desire to end suffering through medical and scientific breakthroughs, while upholding the values of compassion and reverence for life, should be our ultimate goal. The moral context for finding various cures and therapies must be science at the service of humankind, not humankind at the service of science.
What is a Stem Cell?
Stem cells are "master cells" in the embryo which specialize in creating all the 210 different tissues and organs needed in the human body. After birth, stem cells continue to replenish the supply of cells in all the organs and blood in the body.
Characteristics
Stem cells have two principal characteristics: the ability to divide indefinitely and the capacity to give rise to specialized cells. For their ability to create different organs and tissues in the body, stem cells are categorized as being totipotent, pluripotent, or multipotent. These different capacities are best understood within the context of the developing new human life.
When Stem Cells Appear in Human Development
Human life begins when a sperm fertilizes an egg and creates a single-celled human life called a zygote. At this early stage, this zygote is "totipotent," meaning that its potential, or ability, for creating tissue and organs for this new human life is total. Totipotent stem cells are found in the cells comprising this one-to-three-day old embryo and possess this potential for total differentiation to create all the tissue and organs needed by this emerging new human life.
In the first hours after fertilization, this single-celled zygote divides into identical totipotent cells. Approximately four days after fertilization, and after several cycles of cell division (no later than the eight or sixteen cell stage), these first generation, totipotent cells begin to specialize, forming a hollow sphere of cells called a blastocyst. The blastocyst has an outer layer of cells, and inside the hollow sphere, there is a cluster of cells called the inner cell mass. This inner cell mass is referred to as the embryoblast, which consists of about 100 cells.
The outer layer of cells will go on to form the placenta and other supporting tissues needed for fetal development in the uterus. The inner cell mass cells will form virtually all of the tissues of the human body. These pluripotent, or second generation, stem cells lack the capacity to specialize an entire individuated organism. But they do have the ability to specialize into any of the 210 types of cells in the mature human body.
These pluripotent stem cells in the inner cell mass (embryoblast) will undergo further specialization into stem cells that will give rise to cells that have a particular function, like blood, skin, nerves, and organ stem cells. These more specialized stem cells are called "multipotent."
These third generation multipotent stem cells are found throughout the human body, being used to replenish the supply cells in our body when other cells eventually wear out. For example, blood stem cells reside in the bone marrow of every human being, adult or child, and can be found in small numbers circulating in the blood stream. They perform the critical role of continually replenishing our supply of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets throughout life.
Sources of Embryonic and Other Stem Cells
There are presently two major categories of stem cells, those taken from embryos or aborted fetal tissue, and those gotten from other sources, such as umbilical cord blood, placentas, or non-embryonic (adult) tissue and organs.
Embryonic stem cells are obtained from the early stages of embryonic life, from the inner cell mass in the blastocyst. They are derived usually from extra embryos created at in-vitro fertilization clinics to be implanted in women unable to conceive on their own. Isolating embryonic stem cells automatically kills the living embryo. The embryos killed for their stems cells are about a week old and have grown to about 200 cells.
Life Principles Reflections is a quarterly Email commentary developed to give reflections on life issues. Every three months articles are published online featuring a staff or a guest writer.
