WASHINGTON (June 20, 2006)— As patients and families who have benefited
from adult stem cell treatments assembled in here to tell their stories,
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life
Activities today reaffirmed the Church’s strong support for ethically
acceptable stem cell research.
“The Catholic Church favors ethically acceptable stem cell research, but
opposes destroying innocent human lives on the pretext that it may help
other lives in the future,” said Deirdre McQuade, Director of Planning and
Information for the Pro-Life Secretariat. “These patients attest that
there are solutions we can all live with.”
The occasion for the Secretariat’s statement was a press conference on
Capitol Hill the afternoon of June 20, held by Senator Sam Brownback of
Kansas. The event featured patients who have been treated successfully
with adult or umbilical cord blood stem cells for conditions ranging from
leukemia and cerebral palsy, to birth-related brain damage, heart damage
and paralysis from spinal cord injury.
“We praise these patients and families for their courage, their
persistence, and their willingness to come to Washington to present how
ethically sound stem cell research is paving the road to treatments,” said
Ms. McQuade, “No one should think that the stem cell debate forces us to
choose between ethics and science. We can support both. There is no need
to sell our souls in the quest to heal our bodies.”
Catholic Support for Ethically Acceptable Stem Cell Research
Sometimes it is wrongly said that the Catholic Church opposes stem cell
research. In fact, the Church supports ethically responsible stem cell
research, while opposing any research that exploits or destroys human
embryos.
Because the Church opposes deliberately destroying innocent human life at
any stage, for research or any other purpose, it opposes embryonic stem
cell research as currently conducted. However, when scientists proposed
avenues for possibly obtaining embryonic stem cells or their pluripotent
equivalent without creating or harming embryos, Catholic leaders were
among the first to welcome discussion of this idea (Catholic News Service,
June 22, 2005).
The Catholic Church has long supported research using stem cells from
adult tissue and umbilical cord blood, which poses no moral problem.
Catholic institutions at times have taken the lead in promoting such
constructive research, which is already providing cures and treatments for
suffering patients:
In May 2006, New Jersey’s 15 Catholic hospitals announced that they will
become centers for collecting umbilical cord and placental blood for the
state’s two public cord blood banks (Associated Press, May 23, 2006).
* In October 2005, the Catholic bishops of South Korea said they will
raise and donate about $10 million to advancing adult stem cell research
(Taipei Times, October 6, 2005).
* South Korea's Catholic Medical Centre announced in June 2005 that it had
successfully treated stroke and vascular disease in 64 patients using
adult stem cells (AsiaNews.it, 20 June 2005)
* A March 2005 breakthrough demonstrating the capabilities of adult stem
cells in Australia was made possible by a grant of $50,000 (Australian
dollars) from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney (CNN International, March
22, 2005).
* In February 2005 a major Catholic teaching hospital in Boston, Caritas
St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, announced that it had “identified adult
stem cells that may have the capacity to repair and regenerate all tissue
types in the body” (News Release, Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center,
February 2, 2005).
* Throughout 2005 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has worked to
pass federal legislation creating a nationwide public bank for umbilical
cord blood stem cells, for research and the treatment of a wide variety of
diseases (News Release, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, July 12,
2005, at www.usccb.org).
* In 2004 Monsignor Thomas Hartman, director of radio and television for
the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, founded The Thomas Hartman
Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The foundation has raised millions of
dollars for adult stem cell research and other avenues for curing
Parkinson’s disease (see
www.hartmanfoundation.org).
Clearly, the Church favors ethically acceptable stem cell research. It
opposes destroying some human lives now, on the pretext that this may
possibly help other lives in the future. We must respect life at all
times, especially when our goal is to save lives.