Is Stem Cell Research wrong?

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gladtobe

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I don’t know to much about stem cell research, but I know it could be a great hope for the physically impaired and people who have Alhimers. Congress has passed their approval for it’s research here in the USA, but President Bush is the one who must give the bill the final O.K. What do you say about this issue? Is it morally O.K? Does it go against the teaching of the church? Could evil powers to be really use this to clone a super race? I don’t know. I like to get some insight on this. It’s all new to me.Thanks.
 
Embryonic or fetal stem cell research is condemned by the Church because it requires the harvesting of stem cells from the concieved human being and consequently it’s death.

Adult stem cell research is fine and the more promising sceince because embryonic stem cells are more difficult to control.
 
YES! In 2001 President Bush banned embryonic stem cell research, which the House just voted to remove. However, not all stem cell research is immoral. But embryonic stem cell research requires the extraction of a blastocyst, or the baby in a pre-embryo stage. These stem cells have the potential to be grown into basically any type of cell. However, this extraction in effect destroys the blastocyst. If you believe life begins at conception, then embryonic stem cell operations are murder, destruction of a human soul. While embryonic stem cell research may yield cures for certain terminal diseases, it is not our place to kill life to save life. As Psalm 139:13 tells us: God knits us together in our mother’s womb, He knew us before we were born.
 
I recommend spending some quality time on this site:
stemcellresearch.org/

**EMBRYONIC **stem cell research is wrong, because it creates human life for the purpose of destroying human life. Life begins at conception, and this is why we believe that abortion, at any stage, is gravely wrong.

Just plain old “stem cell research” is just fine, as stem cells can be harvested from MANY non-embryo things (umbilical cord blood, adult marrow, etc.).

EVERY MEDICINAL HELP that has come from stem cell research has come from “Adult” stem cell research (what I just talked about). NO HELP WHATSOEVER has come from Embryonic stem cell research.

Knowing this, which one would you fund?

RyanL
 
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Franze:
You are killing human beings
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This only applies to embryonic stem cell research.

I think a lot of people who don’t know better think the Church is against ALL stem cell research, which is untrue. It’s unfortunate because it’s a misconception that can be twisted into “The Catholic Church is behind the times” mentality so many seem to have. 😦
 
On a slightly different note. I want help defending this position: I know that embryonic stem cell work is wrong. Some people, such as the governor of our state (Missouri), who is Republican and Baptist, don’t feel that theraputic cloning is wrong because the process requires taking DNA out of a person and inserting it into a human egg. His belief is that, since it is not actually the combination of a sperm and an egg, it is not truly human life. Two questions: Wouldn’t an actual person theoretically develop from the DNA / egg combo, even if it wasn’t from sperm? If not, can you help with a solid rebuttal to this?
 
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awfulthings9:
On a slightly different note. I want help defending this position: I know that embryonic stem cell work is wrong. Some people, such as the governor of our state (Missouri), who is Republican and Baptist, don’t feel that theraputic cloning is wrong because the process requires taking DNA out of a person and inserting it into a human egg. His belief is that, since it is not actually the combination of a sperm and an egg, it is not truly human life. Two questions: Wouldn’t an actual person theoretically develop from the DNA / egg combo, even if it wasn’t from sperm? If not, can you help with a solid rebuttal to this?
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I haven’t done a lot of research into this, but I do remember reading about it in our Archdiocese’s newspaper during the election season that talked about Missouri Catholic Conference’s disappointment with then-candidate Blunt’s position. I assumed that to mean that the Church is against this as well.
 
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RyanL:
I recommend spending some quality time on this site:
stemcellresearch.org/

**EMBRYONIC **stem cell research is wrong, because it creates human life for the purpose of destroying human life. Life begins at conception, and this is why we believe that abortion, at any stage, is gravely wrong.

Just plain old “stem cell research” is just fine, as stem cells can be harvested from MANY non-embryo things (umbilical cord blood, adult marrow, etc.).

EVERY MEDICINAL HELP that has come from stem cell research has come from “Adult” stem cell research (what I just talked about). NO HELP WHATSOEVER has come from Embryonic stem cell research.

Knowing this, which one would you fund?

RyanL
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Ryan…you are sooo smart…I follow you around just telling you that all the time, but I just can’t help it…you are!

What Ryan says is true. Adult stem cell research is the way to go, but planned parethood, the women’s movement and other ultra liberal organizations see embryonic stem cells as a way to push their agendas and are basically trying to “ride the coat-tails” of embryonic stem cells to ensure the future for abortion.
 
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awfulthings9:
Wouldn’t an actual person theoretically develop from the DNA / egg combo, even if it wasn’t from sperm?
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Would this creation have a soul? :bigyikes:
 
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Lillith:
Adult stem cell research is the way to go, but planned parethood, the women’s movement and other ultra liberal organizations see embryonic stem cells as a way to push their agendas and are basically trying to “ride the coat-tails” of embryonic stem cells to ensure the future for abortion.
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Bingo! :mad:
 
…we will most likely pay for the “ends justifys the means” LOGIC…???

… i always wondered how it would sound standing there before the judgement seat spouting about how it help so many others… “killing babies”… you think it will sell…?

…well, when you get ready to plead your case, let me know would’ya… i might not want to be in the vicinity when the judgement is rendered…
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Peace:thumbsup:
 
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gladtobe:
I don’t know to much about stem cell research, but I know it could be a great hope for the physically impaired and people who have Alhimers. .
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No you don’t know much about stem cell research, and either do most Americans. Embryonic or fetal stem cell research is immoral because it first creates and then destroys an actual human person. No matter how good the motive, it does not justify deliberate cold-blooded murder. Moreover, the only embryonic stem cell research on humans - those with parkinsons - went horribly wrong, leaving the subjects far worse off then they were before, and the tests were conducted without permission and entirely outside common scientific and medical research standards. There are NO, repeat NO, successful therapeutic treatments derived, or even promising lines of research from embryonic stem cells.

Adult stem cells, including umbilical cord blood, on the other had present no moral dilemma because they do not injure or kill a human being when they are harvested. There are literally hundreds of successful therapies which have been derived from them.

When your legislators ask taxpayers to approve public funding of stem cell research, make sure the money will go where it has a chance of success: adult stem cell research, and do not allow your legislators to get away with lying to the voters about embryonic stem cell research - an immoral endeavor with no promise of success.
 
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Lillith:
Ryan…you are sooo smart…I follow you around just telling you that all the time, but I just can’t help it…you are!
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Lillith,
You really know how to make a man smile! I will only reply with the words of St. Paul, as they apply here to me:
1 Cor 3:5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
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Glory to God in the highest, and Peace to His people on earth,
RyanL
 
Here’s an article from our local Catholic paper, The Pilot:

From the March 11, 2005 Edition of The Pilot

BCTV program explains stem-cell research, cloning process

By Christine Tolfree

BRIGHTON –– As some in the Massachusetts Legislature are pushing for passage of a bill that would endorse embryonic stem-cell research, Boston Catholic Television is airing a program that seeks to explain the issue for Catholics.

The program, entitled “Cutting Through the Spin on Stem-Cells and Cloning” features Archbishop Seán P. O’Malley and Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Father Pacholczyk holds four bachelors of science degrees and a doctorate in neuroscience. The program, which includes a presentation by Father Pacholczyk followed by audience questions, was produced because stem-cell research has received extensive media coverage. Archbishop O’Malley stressed that Catholics need to be knowledgeable about this issue.

“For us as Catholics and as believers, the Gospel of life is at the cornerstone of the Church’s social teaching,” said the archbishop. “We are committed to defending life in all aspects from the first moment of conception until natural death.”

Father Pacholczyk began by saying there are many misconceptions about stem-cell research and the Catholic Church’s position. Advocates of embryonic stem-cell research say it will benefit many people who have debilitating diseases, but Father Pacholczyk said there is an “element of hype” in this “over billing” and the research involves stem cells that are “violently extracted from a living, growing human embryo.”

Father Pacholczyk clarified that stem cells come from four sources — embryos, fetuses, umbilical cord blood and adults. The Catholic Church supports obtaining stem-cells from three of those sources — naturally miscarried fetuses, umbilical cord blood and adults.

Supporters say embryonic stem cells are more flexible, but the research in animals has been “plagued with many difficulties and problems” because the embryonic stem cells are “very good at growing tumors.” This research has resulted in no cures while adult and umbilical cord stem cells have helped thousands of people by curing or treating almost 100 diseases, he said.

Father Pacholczyk outlined several cases in which patients were cured using this research, including Laura Domingas from San Antonio, Texas who went to Portugal where doctors removed stem cells from her nasal passages and injected them into the site of her spinal cord injury. She had been paralyzed from the chest down for two years but can now walk under her own power for a short distance with the help of metal braces.

This research presents “new hope” but many are investing in the “highly speculative” embryonic stem-cell research instead.

Father Pacholczyk also dispelled the myth that therapeutic cloning is somehow different from reproductive cloning.

“Therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning both create a cloned embryo by the same series of technical steps,” he said.

A donor’s skin cell is forced to join with a woman’s egg where the nucleus has been removed. This process is also called somatic cell nuclear transfer. In reproductive cloning that embryo is placed inside a woman’s uterus and when born would be the identical twin of the donor, only younger, Father Pacholczyk said.

In therapeutic cloning “we do not offer that embryo the safe harbor of a woman’s uterus, instead we violate its integrity,” he said. The result is killing that identical twin to hopefully cure the embryo’s brother or sister.

“You are creating life precisely in order to extinguish it,” he added.

Father Pacholczyk went on to talk about the human embryo, which is smaller than a period at the end of the sentence, but the size of the embryo should never be a justification for destroying it.

“Human life has been entrusted into our hands, and that life is weak. It’s vulnerable by nature and cannot speak in it’s own defense. Remember, we were that weak and vulnerable,” he said. “The true measure of the greatness of any society, of any civilization, is always, always how it treats its weakest members.”

The program will be broadcast again March 15 and 17 at 5:00 p.m. and March 19 at 1:00 p.m.
 
Embryonic stem-cell research or therapeutic cloning takes an egg, removes the nucleus and replaces it with a nucleus from a different human person, creating an embryo. This embryo is a twin of the person whose nucleus was inserted, and in stem-cell research the embryo is destroyed in order to extract the stem-cells.

If the embryo were implanted, instead of destroyed, a new human life could be the result. That is cloning, and it’s the same process that created Dolly the sheep.

This research may not involve any sperm, but it certainly involves life.

Bush didn’t make the research illegal. He restricted federal funds to embryonic stem-cell lines created before his announcement. His theory was that those embryos had already been destroyed, so research on them was fine, but the federal government shouldn’t promote further distruction.
 
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gladtobe:
I don’t know to much about stem cell research, but I know it could be a great hope for the physically impaired and people who have Alhimers. Congress has passed their approval for it’s research here in the USA, but President Bush is the one who must give the bill the final O.K. What do you say about this issue? Is it morally O.K? Does it go against the teaching of the church? Could evil powers to be really use this to clone a super race? I don’t know. I like to get some insight on this. It’s all new to me.Thanks.
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Only that which obtains the stem cells from killing embryos is wrong. Stem cells can be obtained from plecentae, there is no moral objection to this.
 
This morning on CSPAN they had a congressman (Smith a republican) who introduced a bill to get $79 million for cordblood and adult stem cell research. There is also a bill by Castle (a Dem?) for embryonic stem cell research. Alot of the callers were pro-life 😃 . One caller was dying from some very rare disease. From her language she seemed to be Catholic (offering up suffering and such). She said she would not dare attempt to save her life by killing an innocent baby. Also an agnostic doctor came on and said that embryos are not just a clump of cells but human life. He was very upset. He said biologically embryos are human beings and it is simply a matter of maturity. They are just developmentally immature but no less human. Another person also made the point that if embryonic stem cells were so great the pharma. companies would be all over it. But they are not because they know that it is not very promising. Things to ponder over.
 
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