I mentioned this in my "Joe blog," but I had to post here too because I learned so much last night. Joe's doctor gave a talk about stem cell research at his church. Have I mentioned that I really love Joe's doctor? I know Joe is in God's hands, which is the ultimate comfort, but it definitely doesn't hurt that God blessed us with such an amazing doctor. I kept tearing up last night listening to the passion and the care in the doctor's voice.
I love my Joe!
Media MythsStem Cell Research and Cloning As widespread interest in stem cell research increases, so do the number of news articles and reports. It is an unfortunate fact that several misconceptions and distortions have taken hold within the secular media. Ten such “Media Myths” are addressed below.
Myth 1. Stem cells can only come from embryos. In fact stem cells can be taken from umbilical cords, the placenta, amniotic fluid, adult tissues and organs such as bone marrow, fat from liposuction, regions of the nose, and even from cadavers up to 20 hours after death.
Myth 2. Christians are against stem cell research. There are four categories of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, embryonic germ cells, umbilical cord stem cells, and adult stem cells. Given that germ cells can come from miscarriages that involve no deliberate interruption of pregnancy, Christians in general oppose the use of only one of these four categories, i.e., embryonic stem cells. In other words, most Christians approve of three of the four possible types of stem cell research.
Myth 3. Embryonic stem cell research has the greatest promise. Up to now, no human being has ever been cured of a disease using embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, have already cured thousands. For example, bone marrow cells from the hipbone have repaired scar tissue on the heart after heart attacks. Research using adult cells is 20-30 years ahead of embryonic stem cells and holds greater promise. This is in part because stem cells are part of the natural repair mechanisms of an adult body, while embryonic stem cells do not belong in an adult body (where they are likely to form tumors, and to be rejected as foreign tissue by the recipient). Rather, embryonic stem cells really belong only within in the specialized microenvironment of a rapidly growing embryo, which is a radically different setting from an adult body.
Myth 4. Embryonic stem cell research is against the law. In reality, there is no law or regulation against destroying human embryos for research purposes. While President Bush has banned the use of federal funding to support research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 2001, it is not illegal. Anyone using private funds is free to pursue it.
Myth 5. President Bush created new restrictions to federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The 1996 Dickey Amendment prohibited the use of federal funds for research that would involve the destruction of human embryos. Bush’s decision to permit research on embryonic stem cell lines created before a certain date thus relaxes this restriction from the Clinton era.
Myth 6. Theraputic cloning and reproductive cloning are fundamentally different from each other. The creation of cloned embryos either to make a baby or to harvest cells occurs by the same series of technical steps. The only difference is what will be done with the cloned human embryo that is produced. Will it be given the protection of a woman’s womb in order to be born? Or will it be destroyed for its stem cells?
Myth 7. Somatic nuclear cell transfer is different from cloning. In fact, “somatic cell nuclear transfer” is simply cloning by a different name. The end result is still a cloned embryo.
Myth 8. By doing somatic cell nuclear transfer, we can directly produce tissues or organs without having to clone an embryo. At the present stage of research, scientists are unable to bypass the creation of an embryo in the production of tissues or organs. In the future it may be possible to inject elements from the cytoplasm of a woman’s ovum into a somatic cell to “reprogram” it into a stem cell. This is called “de-differentiation.” If so, there would be no fundamental moral objection to this approach to getting stem cells.
Myth 9. Every body cell, or somatic cell, is somehow an embryo and thus a human life. People sometimes argue: “Every cell in the body has the potential to become an embryo. Does that mean that every time we wash our hands and are shedding thousands of cells, we are killing life?” The problem is that this overlooks the basic biological difference between a regular body cell, and one whose nuclear material has been fused with an unfertilized egg cell, resulting in an embryo. A normal skin cell will only give rise to more skin cells when it divides, while an embryo will give rise to the entire adult organism. Skin cells are not potential adults. Skin cells are potentially only more skin cells. Only embryos are potential adults.
Myth 10. Because frozen embryos may one day end up being discarded by somebody, that makes it allowable, even laudable, to violate and destroy those embryos. The moral analysis of what we may permissibly do with an embryo doesn’t depend on its otherwise “going to waste,” nor on the incidental fact that those embryos are “trapped” in liquid nitrogen. Consider a radical case in which a group of children are permanently trapped in a schoolhouse through no fault of their own; that would not make it morally acceptable to send in a remote control robotic device which would harvest organs from those children and cause their demise.
