Christians hail ethical source for stem cells

Christian leaders from around the world are hailing the announcement of a source for stem cells – and their related medical research lines – without obtaining them from aborted babies or from lab-created-and-destroyed human embryos.

The announcement in Nature Biotechnology said seven years of research by scientists from Wake Forest School of Medicine and Harvard University concluded that stem cell lines derived from amniotic fluid actually have a greater potential for good than stem cells from human embryos.

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The endorsements from Christian leaders whose constituencies could be numbered in the hundreds of millions have been coming in ever since, and include a range from those heading a pro-life action group in Wichita, Kan., to the Vatican.

"This story has become Page 1 news today because, to this point, the media has not told the truth about how promising non-embryonic stem cell research is," said James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family Action. "Instead, they've chosen to put their emphasis on promoting research that kills human beings in their tiniest form.

"Hopefully, the facts that were brought to the fore today will influence members of the House of Representatives to reject the expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research when the legislation comes up for a vote this week," he continued. "There is now a tremendous opportunity for those of us who hold to pro-life views to call for uncompromising support of research using sources that do not imperil preborn life."

One of the senior researchers on the project, Anthony Atala, said his hope is that the cells will provide a resource for tissue repair and for "engineered organs."

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"It has been known for decades that both the placenta and amniotic fluid contain multiple progenitor cell types from the developing embryo, including fat, bone, and muscle. We asked the question, 'Is there a possibility that within this cell population we can capture true stem cells?' The answer is yes."

The issue of the medical research and potential breakthroughs that might one day come from stem cell research always has been used by abortion industry supporters as a reason for those activities, even though the current medical treatments all come from adult stem cell research, not embryonic stem cells. Stem cell research proponents also routinely argue that life begins at birth.

Christians, on the other side, have argued that life from the moment of conception is sacred and must be protected, even to the point of protecting human embryos from destruction through research techniques.

"This study provides more evidence that there is no need to destroy human embryos in order to treat disease or otherwise benefit mankind," Dobson said. "In fact, there are no clinical trials anywhere in the world where embryonic stem cells are being used in patients."

To the contrary, at least 70 conditions already are being treated with stem cells from bone marrow and cord blood, and similar prospects are likely for stem cells from amniotic fluid, he said.

The announcement means that Congress has no need to move forward when it votes tomorrow on expanding federal funding for stem cell research that kills human life.

"We urge all members of Congress to uphold respect for life while maximizing the investment of American tax dollars by investing in proven and promising stem cell research that does not violate the conscience of many Americans," said Dr. David Stevens, head of the Christian Medical Association.

The bill pending in the House is similar to one vetoed earlier by President Bush, who has authorized and approves of federal funding for a limited number of stem cell research lines.

"We have learned that the ethical route to stem cells is also the most medically effective and promising route to stem cells. Americans' resources should be used for ethical, effective and promising stem cell research that does not violate ethical standards by killing human embryos," Stevens said.

The research announcing the availability of stem cells from amniotic fluid noted that such stem cells can be grown in large quantities, do not require cells from live human embryos, do not develop tumors as the embryonic stem cells do, and estimated that a research line of 100,000 cells would satisfy 99 percent of all research needs.

"This new science has been able to isolate every type of stem cell needed for therapy and healing medicine without the moral concern for loss of innocent life that has alarmed Christians," said Troy Newman, the chief of Operation Rescue.

Rev. Patrick Mahoney, of the Christian Defense Coalition, noted that science now can move forward – towards a better goal and without the moral and ethical objections that are associated with "live human embryonic experimentation."

"This latest research on amniotic cells is further evidence that we don't need to kill one life in order to save another," said Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America.

"Scientific research proves that the moral choice is also the healthiest and most effective way to find cures," she said.

Judie Brown, of the American Life League said the pending plan to enhance federal dollars for current embryonic stem cell research activities is horrible.

"The continual misinformation about human embryonic stem cell research offered by those who wish to encourage such 'science' does not change the fact that terminating the lives of innocent human embryos for research is ethically and morally corrupt," she said.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, called it a significant advance that allows for medical progress – without costing innocent lives.

"I am very glad to see this progress in the field of science for the good of humankind," he told Vatican Radio.

The Vatican, he said, "is not obscurantist and is always ready to welcome real scientific progress that neither threatens nor manipulates the sources of life."

Support for the pending embryonic stem cell research funding measure, however, remained staunch among the Congressional elite. "We should pass the bill again and again and again until we get a president who will sign it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

One outspoken abortion supporter, Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said it's about time her side gets its way. "We have the momentum, we have the votes, we have the support of the public."

The National Institutes of Health says adult stem cells, which already have been used in medical therapies, are limited because they can only differentiate into cell types of their tissue of origin, while embryonic stem cells, which haven't yet been used in any successful therapy, can become all types of cells of the body.

However, it already was known that stem cells from an adult can be returned to that person without complications, while embryonic stem cells can be rejected by a patient's own immune system, and they often develop into tumors.

The results of the research, if they prove to be as valuable as they are promising, also would eliminate such atrocities as that that WND reported just days ago.

Several reports in British papers told the story of a video showing a post-mortem examination of infants of Ukrainian mothers who believe their babies were stolen from them at birth.

The video was given to reporters by a charity worker representing 300 families who believe their healthy babies were falsely declared dead by staff at a maternity hospital in the Ukraine's most easterly city of Kharkiv.

A senior British forensic pathologist who has viewed the video says that what he's seen does not look like standard post-mortem practice, the BBC reported. The video shows severed limbs and torsos with organs, including brains, stripped away.

The thorough dismemberment of the bodies has led some to believe that, if the grisly evidence points to the babies having been murdered, the hospital may be supplying harvested stem cells from bone marrow to an underground market.

Officially, the cells are taken from aborted fetuses with the mothers' consent, but, given the hundreds of Ukrainian women who have complained of newborns stolen and the recently surfaced post-mortem video, the government authorized an investigation into whether a trade in babies-killed-to-order exists.

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