MD Calls Harvard-Children's Hospital Embryonic Research Plans 'a Shame'
by Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
June 9, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The executive director of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) says it is nothing short of a tragedy that Harvard is teaming up with a Boston hospital to clone human embryos.On Tuesday, scientists at Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and Children's Hospital Boston announced they will be working to clone human embryos to generate stem cell lines for disease treatment. The Harvard Gazette reports that after more than two years of intensive ethical and scientific review, HSCI and Children's Hospital have been cleared to begin experiments using somatic cell nuclear transfer to create disease-specific stem cell lines in the hope of developing treatments for a wide range of afflictions that are presently incurable.
Christian physician Dr. David Stevens, who heads the CMDA, says it is a shame that news of this announcement has escaped widespread media attention and has made barely a ripple in the headlines. Human lives are being extinguished, he points out; and moreover, this type of research is developing human embryos for the sole purpose of experimentation.
"There are attempts under way to clone human beings," Stevens explains, "not only using so-called leftover embryos from IVF clinics, but also to create embryos themselves that model disease states."
In other words, the CMDA spokesman says, scientists are attempting, for instance, to "clone somebody with diabetes, somebody with sickle cell disease, and then study that human being as it develops, trying to understand that process and -- of course -- killing it after so many days of development."
And once again, Stevens asserts, these scientists are trumpeting the potential cures that embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR) could provide. However, he notes, these researchers themselves admit that any sort of treatments that their embryonic stem-cell experimentation might yield are at least a decade away. Meanwhile, adult stem cells have already been used successfully in treating numerous patients, including some suffering from cardiac infarction (destruction of heart tissue), Crohn's disease (a chronic bowel infection), and thalassemia (a blood disease).
Then there is the basic issue of ethics, the Christian doctor observes. While adult stem cells can be found in bone marrow, in umbilical cord blood, and in various tissues of a growing human being, embryonic stem cells must be taken from a developing embryo at the blastocyst stage, thus destroying the embryo and ending a developing human life. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, can be extracted from umbilical cord blood or from adult tissues without harming the donor.
Also, in addition to overcoming the primary ethical problem, adult stem cells have the potential to avoid another obstacle posed by embryonic stem-cell research. Since adult stem cells can be taken from the patient's own body, they avoid the problem of the patient's possible rejection of any foreign cells used in treatment. Nevertheless, Stevens contends, proponents of embryonic stem-cell research continue pushing for funding and fewer government restrictions while ignoring a safer, more promising and ethically sound line of inquiry.
It is a shame, Stevens says. While ESCR advocates tout the importance of expanding exploration of the dubious hopes held out by embryonic stem cells in the distant future, he asserts, adult stem cells have repeatedly proven their promise in clinical settings, where their successful use in treating several diseases is already well documented.
