Hi Joan and Stan,
I guess they think calling it a stem cell bank instead of a cord
blood bank makes it a pioneer?  Cord blood banks are not unique...

Milano Cord Blood Bank
http://polic.cilea.it/ctit/milancord/cord.htm

If you call up Google   http://www.google.com   and type
"cord blood bank"  in the search box you will see what I mean....

Now it may be cutting edge for the Catholic Church.... I dunno....

You're right... it is interesting...

Best regards ..... murray

On 21 Nov 2000, at 3:39, Joan and Stan Snyder wrote:

> STEM-CELLS BANK TO BE A PIONEER IN EUROPE
> University Plan Harmonizes Ethics and New Biogenetic
> Techniques
>
> ROME, NOV. 20, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- Beginning Jan. 1, the
> Catholic University of Rome will provide a stem-cells bank
> which will be used to regenerate human organs and tissues.
>
> The plan provides for the extraction of stem cells from the
> blood of umbilical cords. The program would avoid the grave
> ethical problems posed by the use of cloned human embryos as
> spare parts.
>
> The blood of the placenta, which has stem cells, will be sent
> to the bank for storage. These cells offer extraordinary
> possibilities for persons whose umbilical cords have been
> used, as well as for people of compatible blood groups. Stem
> cells are the progenitors of the elements of blood, and,
> when developed, can become muscular tissue, cartilage and
> blood vessels.
>
> News of the stem-cells bank was announced Saturday by
> Salvatore Mancuso, director of the University's Institute of
> Gynecology, during the congress on "New Frontiers for
> Bioethics: Biotechnologies," organized for the 50th
> anniversary of the scientific journal Medicina e Morale ( see
> http://www.centrobioetica.org ).
>
> Mancuso said that the university hopes to demonstrate that it
> is possible to make progress in research without having to
> resort to cloning or to the indiscriminate use of embryos
> created solely for this purpose. The bank will be the first of
> its kind in Italy and a pioneer in Europe.
>
> Archbishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical
> Academy for Life and director of the Bioethics Institute of
> the Catholic University of Rome, told the Italian newspaper Il
> Giornale in its Sunday edition that "the techniques to use
> stem cells extracted from the umbilical cord represent
> genuine scientific progress."
>
> "Above all, because they offer a kind of preventive therapy
> and constitute a precious reserve to combat some sicknesses
> that could arise in the future," the archbishop said,
> "however, above all because these techniques offer greater
> possibilities for success as opposed to those based on the
> extraction of stem cells from embryos."
>
> According to Archbishop Sgreccia, "the scientific hypotheses,
> on which the measures promoted by the English and U.S.
> governments are based, lack the necessary foundation, both
> from the ethical as well as the experimental point of view.
> Research rewards the use of stem cells extracted from the
> umbilical cord and proves that it is not necessary to
> sacrifice embryos."
>
> The archbishop concluded by explaining that "the use of
> embryos is ethically unacceptable not only for those who are
> Catholic."
>
> "It is not necessary to be a believer to recognize, above all,
> that the embryo is a human being," he added. "It cannot be
> tolerated that human beings be 'produced' to be used as simple
> deposits of cells. This is prohibited by international codes."
>
> --
> Joan E. Blessington Snyder     49/10
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.geocities.com/joanbsnyder/
> http://ww.newcountry.nu/pd/members/snyder/page1.htm
> "Hang tough............no way through it but to do it."
>     Chris-in-the-Morning  (Northern Exposure)


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