 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
a DVD by Rev. Dr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk
earned a PH.D. in Neuroscience from Yale University, did post doctoral research at
Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and Serves as the Director of
Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
What's the Difference? The Cost. Human Lives.
President Bush opposes the destruction of new human life in order to advance
medicine. Our tax dollars are better spent on adult stem cell research which is
yielding results, not mere promises.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Issue by Susan Cirba
Moral Issues Cannot Be Swept Aside
Americans to “cast a vote for Embryonic stem cell research on Nov. 2.” President
Bush, for three years, has had a policy of defending new human life by banning federal
funding of stem cell research which destroys human embryos. Ron Reagan Jr gave a
very deceptive speech in prime time which neglected to inform the American people
that human embryos are killed in the process of extracting their stem cells.
Reagan Jr. further confused the issue making it appear as though only embrionic stem
cell research can cure diseases such as Alzheimers disease which his father, the late
President Ronald Reagan suffered with for nearly a decade. Yet advances in adult
stem cell research have yielded more promising results with no destruction of life.
Reagan Jr. denigrated people who respect human life saying, “It does not follow that
the theology of the few should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the
many.”
Human life begins at conception. It is not a matter of theology but of science and a
look at any medical text book will prove that. Pro-life people do not oppose stem
cell research but only stem cell research that destroys human beings in the embryonic
stage of development. Embryonic stem cell research is not the only hope for cures. It
is not even the best hope for cures.
Moral issues cannot be swept aside. It is not ethical to destroy one class of human
beings “human embryos” even if it will supposedly cure millions of people in the future.
Human life begins at fertilization no matter how it takes place, whether in the body of
a woman or in a petri dish. A frozen embryo is not “just an egg”, it is a new human
life genetically different from the father’s sperm and mother’s egg. The fact that we
can take an egg from a woman and create new life in a petri dish proves that the
human unborn child was never a part of the woman’s body in the first place!
“Embryo” simply denotes a stage of life, not a different or less valuable type of life.
In the case of embryonic stem cell research, hundreds of human embryos are killed to
obtain a few lines of stem cells for research. The New York Times reported that a
Virginia Research firm took 168 donor eggs, fertilized 110 of them with donor sperm,
and grew 40 of them to the blastocyst stage. Of the 40 unborn children created, 18
had harvestable inner masses resulting in 3 stem cells lines and 110 lives destroyed!
These human beings were created only to be destroyed for research. Who would
support stem cell research if the cells were taken from a black man who was lynched,
or prisoners executed specifically to get their stem cells?.
Our opponents speak as though the only questions to be considered are “What
sources of stem cells are more plentiful?” and “What sources are supposedly more
promising in terms of success for curing diseases?”
The sad part of the controversy is that in their attempt to advance their political
agenda and potentially get more dollars for stem cell research which kills human
embryos, the advances made in stem cell research using adult stem cells have been
neglected by the press.
Have you heard for example, that scientists at Pennington Biomedical Research
Center in Baton Rouge, La have found a way to convert stem cells from human fat to
human bone cells when transplanted into a mouse. They expect to be able to repair
broken bones using stem cells obtined through liposuction. This should be good
news especially for the elderly whose bones take longer to heal
Similarly, stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood have been used to save the
lives of children with Hurler’s syndrome, an illness which typically kills its victims
before age five.
The Herald & Times of the United Kingdom has reported that scientists in the United
States have discovered that adult bone marrow cells can be used to regenerate
neurons in the brain. Florida researchers observed that in three instances, marrow
stem cells taken from adults transformed themselves into brain tissue. This is a
significant step toward the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and multiple
sclerosis. The cells are taken from the patient’s own bone marrow which would
avoid the ethical objections to using embryonic stem cells. Yet people such as Ron
Reagan Jr. would have us believe it is necessary to kill human embryo’s to find cures.
To quote the Herald, stem cells, “extracted from early-stage embryos have the
potential to become any cell in the body. However, using them entails cannibalising an
embryo.”
The late President Reagan would have agreed with that statement, for it is he who
issued a Personhood Proclamation for the Unborn Child on January 14, 1988. On
the subject of Roe v.Wade the late President stated, “Among the tragic and
unspeakable results...has been the loss of life of 22 million infants before birth... and a
cheapening of our respect for the human person. I, Ronald Reagan do hereby
proclaim and declare the unalienable personhood of every American, from the
moment of conception until natural death.”. Unfortunately Ron Jr. did not follow in his
father’s footsteps.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
current
articles of
interest on
stem cell
research
see:
for Human Life. Questions or to report problems send e-mai to paforhumanlife@Juno.com
 | |  |