Cancer-Causing Stem Cells
As controversy raged over the actor’s TV ads promoting Senate candidates who back the embryo-killing research, scientists came out with new findings — research using human embryonic stem cells to treat Parkinson’s disease produce tumors in research animals.
Dr. Steven Goldman and a University of Rochester Medical Center team, in a study released Oct. 22, showed that symptoms of the disease decreased, but tumors grew in the animals’ brains, according to the report in “Nature Medicine.”
That news came amid increasing
political pressure by biotechnology interests for federal funding, and for
loosened restrictions on human embryonic stem-cell research. Pressure is strong
in
The amendment would take away state and local governments’ authority to regulate and ban human cloning. Embryos would be cloned so they could be killed within days and used for medical experiments.
Microbiology and embryology show that a human embryo is, from the moment of conception, a boy or a girl with his or her own unique DNA and normal human life expectancy. The Church teaches that “from the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life” (Catechism No. 2270).
“Killing is killing, no matter how young or old the victim,” the bishops said in a Sept. 30 pastoral letter.
Others accused Michael J. Fox of
misleading advertising against pro-life candidates in
The secular media compound the problem by failing to explain how the two kinds of research differ, according to Deacon Larry Weber, executive director of the Missouri Catholic Conference.
“We repeatedly see reporters gloss over the differences,” Weber said in an interview. “I don’t know whether they just don’t dig enough or whether the research community doesn’t want this to be clear. Money is definitely a factor, as they are seeking federal funding.”
“It’s ironic that a celebrity like
Fox would push for research that produces tumors,” Richard Doerflinger,
interim executive director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview. “The reason there’s
such a fierce effort for public funding of embryonic stem-cell research is that
private investors look at research results and say this is a very uncertain
investment. In
Actress Patricia Heaton, in a
In addition to Heaton, star of the comedy series, “Everybody Loves Raymond,” the ad featured actor Jim Caviezel of The Passion of the Christ, Jeff Suppan, a Catholic who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4 of the World Series, Kansas City Royals slugger Mike Sweeney and Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner. Produced by Missourians Against Human Cloning, it first aired during the Oct. 25 World Series game.
Ends and Means
Goldman, spokesman for the
The adult stem cells are more differentiated and thus less flexible than embryonic ones. However, the embryonic ones are unstable and appear to grow uncontrollably.
Goldman said he does not see using embryonic stem cells as morally wrong.
“I look at the moral imperative of being able to treat folks with this disease. I would worry more about this than about the loss of a relatively few number of embryos,” he said.
However, Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, points out in his brochure “Stem Cell Research, Cloning and Human Embryos” that the “well-known moral principle that good ends do not justify immoral means applies here.”
His brochure presents these issues in clear and simple terms, and relates stories of people — including a Parkinson’s patient — who have been helped with adult stem cells. The brochure is available from the Family Research Council, as is a six-minute DVD called “Stem Cells: Beyond Hype, Real Hope.”
Doerflinger also took issue with Goldman’s claim that adult stem cells are unsuitable for treating neurological conditions. They have been used in promising clinical trials, even in humans, he said, noting that two websites — stemcellresearch.org (Do No Harm: the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics) and cloninginformation.org (Americans to Ban Cloning) — have a wealth of information.
“Patenting is an important factor,” Doerflinger said. “In adult stem-cell treatment, there is nothing to patent and sell if you use the patient’s own cells. Some say embryonic stem cells would be easier to patent. There will be future efforts to change the laws to patent human embryos.
“If you can make a tailored stem-cell line, you can patent that and make everyone else who does the research pay you to use them,” he added. “For example, what if you created the Ronald Reagan embryo, cloned from his cells, to be used in Alzheimer’s research?”
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- November 5-11, 2006