In the current issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the Moral
Framework presented by the Human Embryo Research Panel (made up of 10 men
and nine women) concluded:
"The panel members considered and rejected the view that a human
embryo has rights that completely prohibit its use in research. To those
who argue that an embryo is a human being from the moment of conception,
the panel responded that no single trait or property is present at
conception that suffices to confer personhood, and thus rights, on the
embryo.
This view is persuasive. All human life begins at conception, but
many embryos do not implant, and even among those that do, many
spontaneously abort. Whatever shifts occur in the moral equation at
conception, it is not self-evident that that biologic event is of such
moral importance that it should cause all human embryos to be placed
outside the realm of research."
Although the panel specifically addressed embryo research, not fetal
tissue research, those of us with PD should be grateful that scientists
are willing to objectively and dispassionately set aside the politics and
religious dogma of abortion in an effort to accelerate in vitro and in
vivo therapeutic research. Martin Bayne [log in to unmask]
