Speaking of stem cell research (from the Maher thread):

[MCWAY]

New stem cell technique captures 'high moral ground'

WASHINGTON (BP)--Pro-life bioethicists have applauded the announcement of a new advance in stem cell research that is a safer and more efficient method than previously discovered methods and avoids experiments that destroy human embryos.

Scientists at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston, Mass., published studies showing they had reprogrammed adult skin cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells without the hazards previously associated with the technique. Unlike previous conversions of adult cells into stem cells virtually identical to those in embryos, these iPS cells did not require the use of viruses to insert genes into cells -- a technique which increases the risk of cancer in the recipient of the cells.

The new method also avoided the ethical problems of embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), which requires the destruction of days-old human embryos when extracting the cells.

ESCR opponents said the development further demonstrates the destructive research method -- which is funded by the federal government -- is not only morally repugnant but unnecessary.

"This is yet another confirmation that when science takes the moral high ground great discoveries can be made," said C. Ben Mitchell, professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and a consultant to the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

"Even some of the most skeptical proponents of embryo-destructive research are getting the message," Mitchell told Baptist Press. "There are no good reasons to kill human embryos for research. Human embryos belong in a mother's body, not in a research lab."

Richard Doerflinger told The Washington Post, "With each new study it becomes more and more implausible to claim that scientists must rely on destruction of human embryos to achieve rapid progress in regenerative medicine." Doerflinger is associate director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

David Stevens, the Christian Medical Association's chief executive officer, said the new research "should put one of the final nails in the coffin of federally funded embryonic stem cell research. This breakthrough is further evidence that the government's illegal funding of embryo-destroying research is like investing in vinyl record technology in a digital age."






http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=33802