Alternative 'Ethical' ESCR Approaches Still Present Problems, Says Christian Doc
by Mary Rettig
October 25, 2005
(AgapePress) - The associate executive director of the Christian Medical Association says two recent developments offering supposedly "more ethical" alternative embryonic stem-cell procedures miss the ethical mark. Dr. Gene Rudd says the two developments are supposed to calm ethical worries -- but they still destroy life, he adds. The first alternative is an embryo that has fatal genetic flaws, meaning it will not survive long. "So rather than producing something that wasn't an embryo, they produced an embryo that was defective and determined to die early," Rudd explains. "We still see an ethical problem with that.
"The other report ... says they want to take ... the eight-cell stage of an embryo, extract one of the cells ... and then experiment with that one cell," he says. According to Rudd, that one cell is still in a formative stage and can become its own embryo. That method, he contends, is basically creating an artificial identical twin.
The CMA official says he applauds the scientists for attempting to find a better way to conduct embryonic stem-cell research. But he maintains that scientists and the public should not forget adult stem cells and the treatments already available with them.
"There's a lot of advantages of using adult stem cells," Rudd says. "We have some immediate cures that are available to people today, and there are very much more promising cures on the horizon for adult stem cells."
Rudd adds that while stem-cell research is a very promising field, ethical principles should not be compromised. He says so far, adult stem cells have more verifiable progress.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
