7/17/01
in this issue:
poll results: AMERICANS poll results:
AMERICANS: A recent report states that when 998 adults were polled,
57% of them said they did not know enough about embryonic stem cell
research to say whether the government should fund it or not. But 54% said
they did not think the government should permit scientists to create
embryos for research. See "Most in
Dark on Stem Cell Issue."
why this special issue?
ANSWER: It is because of apparent confusion among the voting public
that we are dedicating this special issue of Communique to the facts. Most
basic is the fact that a human being is a person whose life begins at
fertilization/conception. Any act that destroys an innocent person at any
point, for any reason, is a criminal act of killing that should never be
permitted or subsidized by any entity in a civilized society. Murder, for
instance, is against the law for that reason. Embryonic stem cell research
is also such an act, because it results in a person's death.
in defense of personhood
ALL RESOURCES: On the American Life League web site, you may find
papers by Professor Dianne Irving, including, "When Do Human Beings Begin,"
"NIH and Human Embryo
Research Revisited," and "Human Embryonic Stem Cell
Research." You may also access "Stem Cell Research and the
Moral Status of Human Embryos," by Professor Donal P. O'Mathuna, "Two Boats, a
Helicopter and Stem Cells," by Russell E. Saltzman, and more.
LEJEUNE: From "Jerome
Lejeune: A Sign of Contradiction": "Lejeune opposed establishment of
the first test-tube baby clinic in America as unjustified experimentation
on embryonic human beings." In the Davis v. Davis case involving the fate
of the couple's "frozen embryos," each of whom were only microscopically
observable, Lejeune "demonstrated to the court that each frozen embryo had
a unique and individual genetic identity and was, in fact, a tiny human
being. Like every other human being, held Lejeune, these too should be
protected as such by law and not considered property."
LIFE ISSUES INSTITUTE: "I Oppose
Embryonic Stem Cell Research," by J. C. Willke, M.D.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COALITION FOR LIFE: Reports in Fax Notes for the last several
months dealing with the factual position versus the political realities.
UNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE: Fact
sheets, including "Current Clinical Use of Adult Stem Cells," and "The
NIH Proposal for Stem Cell Research Is a Crime," are available.
VATICAN: "The
Embryo: A Sign of Contradiction," by Bishop Elio Sgreccia says, in
part, "From the moment of fertilization we are in the presence of a new,
independent, individualized being which develops in continuous fashion.
There is no moment which is less necessary than another ... and each stage
is strictly dependent upon the stage which precedes it and which
determines it."
in opposition to personhood
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: Supports destructive research and
experimentation on embryonic persons. See: "AAP Supports
Federal Funding of Human Embryo Research," 7/13/01.
politics and personhood
JEFFREY: "Bush
Is Right on Stem Cell Research," by Terence Jeffrey, editor, Human
Events.
KISCHER: "Why
Hatch Is Wrong on Human Life," by C. Ward Kischer, PhD, embryologist.
action, please
WHITE HOUSE: President Bush will make the most important decision
of his political career in the coming weeks when he decides on the
question of human embryonic stem cell research. It will define, once and
for all, whether or not he is truly pro-life. Let your voice be heard:
President George W. Bush, The White House, Washington, D.C. 20251; fax
202-456-2461; call White House operator 202-456-1414; call White House
comment line 202-456-1111; e-mail President Bush.
create and kill
JONES INSTITUTE: On July 13, American Life League issued the
following statement responding to the experiments being carried out at the
Jones Institute for Reproductive
Medicine.
Brown was responding to reports from Virginia's Jones Institute,
which confirm that scientists there are creating embryonic persons from
donor gametes, and then killing those embryonic persons to develop stem
cell lines.
"When the first in vitro fertilization baby, Louise Brown, was born
in 1978, no one guessed that technology would be used to destroy
'defective human beings' or to 'create' human beings for the express
purpose of killing them," said Brown.
American Life League calls on the scientific community, Congress and
the Bush administration to recognize the dignity of the human person at
conception/fertilization, and to end ghoulish practices, such as IVF,
which have condemned countless numbers of innocent human beings to
death. zinger
HONEST ERROR OR INTENTIONAL MISREPRESENTATION: Accuracy in
reporting the news is a must for pro-life news outlets and e-services. We
were therefore amazed to see a summarized "news" report regarding ALL's
position on an anonymously written Bush administration letter claiming
that the term "unborn child" would be used for the first time in HCFA's
Child Health Insurance Program. The new proposal purportedly extends
coverage to expectant mothers beyond the age of 18 and classifies her baby
for purposes of prenatal care as an "unborn child." Our review of the news
sources cited by Pro-Life
Infonet on July 7, 2001, including Fox News, Reuters, and the Los
Angeles Times, did not find the characterization erroneously reported:
"American Life League joined abortion advocates in attacking the pro-life
policy." What we did find in the source material was an accurate portrayal
of our position, which is that we feared the anonymous announcement was
timed to provide political capital to Bush operatives as they lobbied for
approval of destructive human embryonic stem cell research. We have more
recently discovered that the term "unborn child" already is part of the
official language used by the HCFA in its explanations of
benefits. Strange, isn't it?
final word
KANSAS LEGISLATOR: State Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook offers the
following commentary, "The Political Rhetoric Behind Stem Cell Research,"
reprinted here with her permission:
Notice the difference. There are adult stem cells and there are
embryonic stem cells. All too often the media uses the term "embryonic
stem cells," followed by references to "stem cells." However "stem cell"
research often refers to progress of adult stem cells. Because terms are
not precise, articles and polls become misleading and embryonic research
is emphasized when it has never helped a single human patient.
A study by Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), a non-partisan,
non-profit research organization, revealed the unbalanced reporting, "as
the political stakes were elevated, the subsequent silence on non-embryo
developments was striking."
STATS revealed a widely circulated report that mouse embryonic stem
cells were programmed to secrete insulin (Science, April 2001). This
research received enthusiastic coverage. However, no mention was made of
a more significant development discovered a year earlier, where mouse
adult stem cells had successfully reversed diabetes (Nature Medicine,
March 2000). And reporters left out that mice receiving embryonic stem
cells still died from diabetes.
Information derived from science journals indicate adult stem cell
advances are taking place very quickly. Human patients were effectively
treated for heart disease using cells from their arm muscles (The
Lancet, January 2001), umbilical cord cells repaired brains damaged by
stroke or other diseases (Associated Press), bone marrow adult stem
cells in rats created heart muscle and blood vessels, UCLA used human
fat cells to create bone, cartilage and muscle tissues, and adult bone
marrow stem cells can form many types of cells including liver, nerve,
brain, etc. (Science, June 2001). In human patients there has been great
success in relieving lupus, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and repairing
nerve damage.
Adult stem cells have shown capacity to form essentially any tissue.
Even scientists not against human embryonic stem-cell research have
observed that adult stem cells can perform as well or better than
embryonic stem cells. One enormous advantage of adult stem cells is no
transplant rejection, since recipients can use their own tissue.
Alternatively, embryonic stem cells have risks of tumors. When early
cells are coaxed to differentiate, there is a risk of contamination,
which does not happen with adult stem cells.
Unfortunately, embryonic stem cells have been held up as the
"potential" universal remedy for disease despite advantages that adult
stem cells have already shown us. If the most potential life-saving
adult stem cell research were ignored, it would delay valuable studies
that are necessary to help people today.
We need to pause, put aside emotion and promises, and take a hard
look at facts. Science is not the final authority and should only give
information that can help guide us. It is up to us to answer questions
of what is most efficient and morally correct for humanity. As we do, it
is imperative that we consider long-range ramifications of different
research methods.
Several "pro-choice" organizations are against embryonic research.
Martin Teitel, president of "pro-choice" Council for Responsible
Genetics, comments, "No bright line exists in ethics for deciding what
is helping a person and what is turning a human being into an
experiment, or a product." Their Genetic Bill of Rights notes that
"commercialization of life is veiled behind promises to cure disease."
Erwin Chargaff, a renowned DNA biochemist, says, "Research always
runs the risk of getting out of control." He calls conditions toward
making human life "a kind of capitalist cannibalism."
Wesley J. Smith, a self-proclaimed liberal stated, "If humanity isn't
special, that is exactly how we will act." Family Research Council
President Ken Connor said, "Once a utilitarian approach to human life
becomes widely accepted, it will be impossible to preserve any
meaningful moral restraint on medical research.'' The argument that
embryos are going to be discarded anyway is fallacious. Human embryos
should not be thrown away. Humanity needs to acknowledge that a human
embryo is life that deserves special respect.
There should not be hesitation to pursue research with adult stem
cells, since it has not been conclusively determined that embryonic stem
cells have more potential for curing disease. We are a civilized society
and should not deliberately kill one living human to possibly benefit
another. History offers endless examples of what happens when groups of
humans are treated as "less than humans," and as objects for others' use
and destruction.
A total ban on embryonic research and human cloning, as the
Brownback-Weldon Human Cloning Prohibition Act is trying to achieve,
would enable all of us to look forward to the future. Research
concentration will then be on the most promising and exciting adult stem
cell developments. reflection for prayer
MATTHEW 10:30: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul
in hell.
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