14-Feb-2001 -- Vatican Information Service
POSITION OF THE CHURCH ON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
VATICAN CITY, FEB 14, 2001 (VIS) - Offered below are excerpts from an
interview given to Vatican Radio by Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice-president
of the Pontifical Academy for Life, on the position of the Church
concerning biomedical research.

What is your comment on the criticisms directed at the Church regarding
her position on scientific research?

"The official thought of the Catholic Church is well known. She has
repeatedly declared her appreciation for and encouragement of scientific
research, especially when it is geared towards the prevention and healing
of illnesses and the relief of human suffering, regarding such research as
fully responsive to faith in God the Creator."

However, the Church place limits on research. What are they?

"Experimental science, like all human activity, must be directed to the
good of man and the respect of every individual, both in the ends it
pursues and in the means it uses. It must always respect man, every
human subject involved in experimentation, especially in the most fragile
stages of life and when the subject under experimentation cannot give
consent. A scientific research which pretends to disregard rigorous
scrutiny of the ethical nature of the objectives, methods, and
consequences, would not be worthy of man and would expose itself to
the risk of being used against the most weak and defenseless."

Criticisms raised recently also had to do with research on stem cells;
what is the position of the Pontifical Academy for Life in this regard?

"In the document of August 25, 2000 which this Pontifical Academy
dedicated to the use of stem cells, encouragement was expressed for
research on stem cells taken from the adult organism or, at birth, the
umbilical cord, as well as from involuntarily aborted fetuses, in
conformity with the hypotheses already confirmed by internationally
recognized research. ... The fact that this same Academy has expressed a
negative judgement from an ethical viewpoint on the destructive use of
embryos for stem cell research and for the advancement of forms of
human cloning, inappropriately defined as therapeutic, was motivated
by the viewpoint of rational ethics and certainly not by the demands of
religious faith alone. ... Selective and discriminatory biomedical
experimentation cannot be justified, not even in the face of hypothetical
advantages, which are moreover achievable through other methods."

The criticisms also referred to positions which are resistant to the use
of biologically modified animals and vegetables.

"Cautions related to previously confirmed health risks were simply
shown, especially as regards the cultivation of seeds and vegetables
which are used in the preparation of foods derived precisely from so-
called 'transgenic organisms.' We also confirmed the obligation to inform
citizens and to safeguard fairness in the area of economics, especially in
comparison with developing countries."

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