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
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"Hang tough............no way through it but to do it."
Chris-in-the-Morning (Northern Exposure)
