Secularized E.U. Ups Its Ante on ESCR
by Jody Brown and Natalie Harris
June 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A renowned family researcher says he can't figure out why the European Union has decided to devote more funding to embryonic stem-cell research -- unless it's to prop up the pro-abortion argument.Earlier this month, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) -- by a vote of 284-249 -- decided to commit more EU funds to embryonic stem-cell research than in the past. The bulk of such funding in previous EU budgets had gone to adult stem-cell research. The Vatican has come out in opposition to the recent vote, calling it an expression of a "narrow-minded secularism" that "violate[s] the dignity of man."
Dr. Allan Carlson is founder of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society and organizer of the World Congress of Families, which next convenes in May 2007 in Poland. Carlson notes that years of research using stem cells taken from aborted babies have yet to produce a single treatment for a disease. But such is not the case with research involving stem cells taken from adults.
"[R]esearch on adult stem cells has produced a veritable cornucopia of treatments for many diseases -- over 100 to be exact," says Carlson. "Adult stem cells have been used for everything from corneal regeneration to treating juvenile arthritis."
The author and pro-family expert offers his explanation as to why some in the scientific community continue to turn a blind eye toward real results in favor of research that requires the extermination of unborn infants.
"It's a matter of ideology, not science," he says. "Because backers of embryonic stem-cell research promise miracle cures -- someday -- proponents hope the public will come to see abortion not as a necessary evil, but as a benefit to mankind."
And Carlson confesses that history seems to have been forgotten in Europe. "On a continent that saw such wanton destruction of human life in the past century -- and which spawned ideologies that viewed people as raw material for the state," he observes, "you would think the European Union would show more sensitivity for the most vulnerable among us: unborn children."
Scientific Motivations
Meanwhile, a new breakthrough in stem-cell research claims to offer all of the promised benefits of embryonic stem cells -- and none of the problems. Francisco Silva, vice president of research and development for PrimeCell Therapeutics, a research center in Irvine, California, explains the therapeutic development using adult stem cells.
Silva says his research team can now make some adult stem cells "pluripotent," just like embryonic stem cells. That is, the newly developed adult stem cells are capable of transforming into any cell type found in the body. At the same time, this therapeutic development avoids ethical controversy, the need for cloning, and bodily rejection.
"Our goal is not to destroy embryonic stem cells or continue doing research or build a name for ourselves," states Silva. "Our goal is to promise an application to the tens of thousands of patients out there who are needing a therapy. Everybody in the world knows somebody that stem cells can help."
To date, says a press release from parent company PrimeGen, human germ cells -- using therapeutic reprogramming technology -- have been successfully transformed into human heart, brain, bone, and cartilage cells. The findings are undergoing peer review at this time, and have been presented at several global conferences on stem-cell research. But Silva shares that his research team has faced disapproval from fellow researchers, particularly those involved in embryonic stem-cell research.
"It's really easy to take responsibility or to think that one is responsible for the properties of a cell and say, 'I discovered this and I did this and I've published hundreds of papers, and I'm the chair of this department,'" he says. "But really, it's the cell that's doing it. So, when there's a technology that can potentially threaten that [opportunity to make such claims], then obviously, the human nature comes out."
PrimeGen says it has spun off the research under the PrimeCell entity to allow the technology to move quickly to therapeutic application. PrimeGen chairman and CEO Thomas Yuen calls the germ line stem cell development "the most promising methodology yet for regenerative medicine."
