this article originally appeared in The Herald Sun, 11 MAR 2002, Page 18
ALL of us would like to cure disease. No one wants to see any one suffer unnecessarily.
But to suggest that embryonic stem cell research is our only hope of finding cures for diseases, and therefore must go ahead, is at best ignorant and at worst dishonest.
Let's give the public the whole story so that they can make an informed decision. We don't need the nonsense about a return to the Dark Ages. Nor do we need to appeal to sectarianism.
The public has a right to the truth, rather than selective arguments dressed up as facts from researchers who have a vested and usually a commercial interest in promoting their research.
Embryos are not the only source of stem cells. They are found in various parts of the body and the placenta. In fact, this area of science is taking off as new sources of stem cells are rapidly discovered.
A universal stem cell was recently identified and it appears that it is able to differentiate into all cell types in the body.
Scientists can tweak these cells to replace lost or damaged cells for the same diseases which embryonic cells are supposed to cure. Not one person has to be destroyed to obtain these cells.
Hundreds of thousands of cancer patients around the world have been successfully treated using adult stem cells. They have been used to treat patients with auto-immune disease, stroke, anaemia, cartilage and bone diseases.
They have repaired corneas and restored sight to the legally blind. Adult stem cells from a paraplegic woman's own body were injected into the site of her spinal-cord injury. This cured her incontinence and allowed her to move her fingers and toes for the first time.
Many scientists are already working on these alternatives because they are safer, easier, more controllable and less likely to cause tumours and, importantly, they are not rejected as foreign tissue by the recipient -- a problem with embryonic stem cells.
Embryonic stem cells have been lauded for their ability to grow and differentiate into all body cell types. Yet this may turn out to be a disadvantage rather than advantage.
Bioethicist Glenn McGee, who supports embryonic stem cell research, argues: ``The emerging truth in the lab is that (embryonic) stem cells are hard to rein in. The potential that they would explode into a cancerous mass after a stem cell transplant might turn out to be the Pandora's box of stem cell research''.
Perhaps they are trying to turn back into a complete embryo?
The use of embryonic stem cells will remain controversial because obtaining them involves the destruction of early human embryos -- early human lives.
There is no need to use them to try to cure disease. The ends don't justify the means, however noble they may appear. Nobody likes the idea of creating and destroying human embryos, not just Catholics, and that's why the embryo experimentation lobby has to resort to dishonest tactics, or gross omissions to cloud the issue.
The United Nations has set up a committee to draft an international treaty to ban human cloning.
President Bush has banned the creation of any new embryonic cell lines.
If Federal Cabinet does decide to ban the use of spare IVF embryos for research and the cloning of humans for spare parts it would not be alone.
Many countries now realise there is no need to kill to find a cure.
MARCIA RIORDAN is executive officer of the Respect Life Office, Catholic Archdiocese, Melbourne
ALL of us would like to cure disease. No one wants to see any one suffer unnecessarily.
But to suggest that embryonic stem cell research is our only hope of finding cures for diseases, and therefore must go ahead, is at best ignorant and at worst dishonest.
Let's give the public the whole story so that they can make an informed decision. We don't need the nonsense about a return to the Dark Ages. Nor do we need to appeal to sectarianism.
The public has a right to the truth, rather than selective arguments dressed up as facts from researchers who have a vested and usually a commercial interest in promoting their research.
Embryos are not the only source of stem cells. They are found in various parts of the body and the placenta. In fact, this area of science is taking off as new sources of stem cells are rapidly discovered.
A universal stem cell was recently identified and it appears that it is able to differentiate into all cell types in the body.
Scientists can tweak these cells to replace lost or damaged cells for the same diseases which embryonic cells are supposed to cure. Not one person has to be destroyed to obtain these cells.
Hundreds of thousands of cancer patients around the world have been successfully treated using adult stem cells. They have been used to treat patients with auto-immune disease, stroke, anaemia, cartilage and bone diseases.
They have repaired corneas and restored sight to the legally blind. Adult stem cells from a paraplegic woman's own body were injected into the site of her spinal-cord injury. This cured her incontinence and allowed her to move her fingers and toes for the first time.
Many scientists are already working on these alternatives because they are safer, easier, more controllable and less likely to cause tumours and, importantly, they are not rejected as foreign tissue by the recipient -- a problem with embryonic stem cells.
Embryonic stem cells have been lauded for their ability to grow and differentiate into all body cell types. Yet this may turn out to be a disadvantage rather than advantage.
Bioethicist Glenn McGee, who supports embryonic stem cell research, argues: ``The emerging truth in the lab is that (embryonic) stem cells are hard to rein in. The potential that they would explode into a cancerous mass after a stem cell transplant might turn out to be the Pandora's box of stem cell research''.
Perhaps they are trying to turn back into a complete embryo?
The use of embryonic stem cells will remain controversial because obtaining them involves the destruction of early human embryos -- early human lives.
There is no need to use them to try to cure disease. The ends don't justify the means, however noble they may appear. Nobody likes the idea of creating and destroying human embryos, not just Catholics, and that's why the embryo experimentation lobby has to resort to dishonest tactics, or gross omissions to cloud the issue.
The United Nations has set up a committee to draft an international treaty to ban human cloning.
President Bush has banned the creation of any new embryonic cell lines.
If Federal Cabinet does decide to ban the use of spare IVF embryos for research and the cloning of humans for spare parts it would not be alone.
Many countries now realise there is no need to kill to find a cure.
MARCIA RIORDAN is executive officer of the Respect Life Office, Catholic Archdiocese, Melbourne
© Herald Sun 2002