By Dr. Gian Luigi Gigli
The recent announcement of the publication Science on the successful development, by a Korean group of scientists, of thirty human embryos up to the stage of blastocysts, raises important questions for the entire scientific and medical community.
According to newspapers, the Korean team collected 242 eggs, from which they succeeded in cloning 30 blastocysts — early stage embryos containing a mere 100 cells. From those, they harvested just one colony of viable stem cells.
This is the first important achievement in cloning human embryos in the stem-cell quest that up until now many scientists have attempted without significant results.
Unlike the unfounded mythology of Raelians and the press announcements made by doctors in search of easy fame — but without solid scientific grounds, like the Italian Dr. Antinori — the Korean announcement came from a sound and respected scientific group. Their work is going to be published in a scientific journal which carefully evaluates the quality of presented results, and it has been funded by governmental agencies.
Furthermore, Korean scientists presented their achievement as a contribution to the cure of important diseases, like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases and diabetes, and ascribed an intrinsic moral value to their initiative.
In our view, it is just for these reasons that their results are more dramatically serious and need special attention. They call for the immediate organization of a strong cultural resistance on the part of bio-scientists and medical doctors.
In fact, it is immoral to invest enormous amounts of funds (including public funds)[in stem cell research], diverting them from their use to solve modern world-wide tragedies like AIDS, malaria, or malnutrition.
It is immoral to continue to seek the support of public opinion for these projects, with the promise of imminent treatment of many chronic diseases, [despite their being] no certainty of feasibility for many years to come, and although preparatory investigation on animals has been deliberately skipped.
It is immoral to present future results as a gift for mankind, when it is clear that treatment will be very expensive, and that it will be set up by organizations asking for enormous financial rewards.
More importantly, these projects are immoral because researchers must kill the cloned human embryos to extract stem cells.
It is not acceptable to deliberately sacrifice the life of any human being, even if this is done in order to relieve the health problems of other human beings.
A philanthropy which does not recognize the intrinsic value of human beings, although as small and powerless as embryos, is not humane.
We are convinced that instead of being humanitarian, this attitude reflects utilitarian views, permitting the manipulation of public opinion, and providing support to areas of economic interest like research on embryonic stem cells. At the same time, studies such as those carried out on adult stem cells are shrouded in silence, although these studies have already produced important scientific and even clinical results.
Furthermore, is dangerous to promote the use of embryonic stem cells without considering their high potential for uncontrolled growth, which will translate to a high risk of malignancy whenever they are used for tissue or organ repair or replacement.
Unlike other countries, such as the U.S.A., Korea passed a bill on bioethics last December which permits human cloning for medical uses, and funded this controversial study on the basis of that bill.
We ask that public authorities, universities and the media provide realistic information on the true situation with reference to the therapeutic possibilities made available by embryonic and adult stem cells.
We call for a total ban on the cloning of human embryos. Adult stem cell researches should be encouraged instead.
If this does not happen, it is possible that the same lack of respect for the frailest of human beings which today produces blastocysts for research, tomorrow will not hesitate to clone human embryos in order to produce serial children.
It is difficult to control the use of human embryos, once their production has been permitted! Now is the time to stop.
Dr. Gian Luigi Gigli is the President of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.
(This article courtesy of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.)
