Man’s advancement in the sciences over the last several decades has revolutionized health care and dramatically changed the culture in which we live. An important new advancement in the biomedical sciences is the discovery of stem cells and the means to manipulate them. The ethical implications of this discovery for science and for our culture have generated intense political and theological debate, about which much has been written already. In this article I will review the current science of stem cells, discuss the ethical concerns, and finally consider the question of why so much interest in embryonic stem cell research.
What are stem cells?
“Stem cells” refer to cells which have the potential to develop into more than one kind of cell type. Once they are isolated and grown in a lab, they can technically be reproduced indefinitely. Current literature distinguishes between two kinds of stem cells: embryonic and adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are part of the developing baby in its first few weeks of life. The fertilized egg, in a sense, is the ultimate stem cell – by dividing it can generate all the different cell types of the mature adult organism. The single fertilized egg, called a “zygote,” grows by dividing again and again, becoming a multicellular organism, i.e. made up of many cells. During the initial three to five days, any of these cells may separate from the embryo and become a new embryo, called an identical twin. At a certain point, however, these cells cease to be totipotent but are still able to differentiate into every kind of tissue needed for growth and development of the embryo into a mature adult. As the baby develops and becomes bigger, these cells become more and more specialized and lose the ability to become other kinds of cells, so that, in the end, a heart muscle cell cannot become a skin cell, although they both may have come from the same stem cell a few weeks or years before. In the laboratory, scientists are learning how to coax stem cells to develop into whatever kind of tissue they please.
The other kind of stem cells are adult stem cells, found in various body tissues (e.g. brain, muscle, bone marrow), as well as umbilical cord and placental blood. We now know that they are much more common than was previously thought. Scientists had postulated that it would be harder to manipulate adult stem cells to change into different kinds of cells. However, the opposite appears to be true: while embryonic stems cells are proving extremely difficult to control (they often turn into tumours in patients who are treated with them), coaxing adult stem cells to change into the desired tissue and remain stable is a simpler process. The “plasticity” of adult stem cells is now well established. For instance, researchers in
It is important to note that, to date, all the successful stories have come only from the use of adult stem cells, while most disease research organizations, such as the Juvenile Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis and Canadian Cancer Societies, most governments, and most researchers continue to support the use of embryonic stem cells.
Is anything wrong with using stem cells?
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the use of stem cells for research and therapy. However, in order to obtain embryonic stem cells, the newly formed, few day old baby has to die. Extraction of these cells from the embryo results in the death of the embryo, necessarily. On the other hand, obtaining adult stem cells is often as uncomplicated and morally neutral as a simple blood test.
It should seem evident that if the human embryo, a small living human being, is killed to obtain stem cells, then this use of stem cells represents a grave moral evil. However, there are many who disagree that the embryo is human, or that it is a person. But especially repugnant are the views of those today who hold that in spite of the fact that embryos are tiny, living, human beings, the value of their cells to the common good of society outweighs their right to live and grow and be born.
A second moral issue arising from the use of embryonic stem cells is issue of obtaining the incredible number of human ova (unfertilized eggs) necessary for research and development of such “products.” Developing nations especially are expressing serious concerns that their women in particular will be at risk of exploitation by private pharmaceutical and research companies to obtain the necessary human eggs.
Why so much interest in stem cells?
An interest, and indeed, an excitement about the potentials of stem cell research for treating diseases is understandable and should be encouraged. Drug therapy dominates the medicine of today. With the ability to manipulate stem cells to become any kind of tissue we want, the medicine of the future will be dominated by restorative therapies. For instance, instead of using drugs to treat heart failure following a heart attack, stem cells could be injected into the heart which could be influenced to grow into new heart muscle in the damaged heart. This kind of “therapeutic potential,” formerly science fiction, now appears to be right around the corner.
The real question, then, is why the grossly inflated interest in embryonic stem cells, which, besides being obtained from tiny human persons grown and killed for that purpose, have proven to be uncontrollable and ineffective? The answer is not simple, for many forces are at work.
First, with the successes, both real and imagined, of stem cell research, comes a renewed devotion to the cult of health, which already pervades the thinking of modern culture. Phrases such as “As long as you have your health!” and “If you have your health, you have it all!” illustrate the common principle that health is equivalent to happiness. The worship of health by the strong of our society, in pursuit of health and fleeing all suffering, leads to the oppression of the weak and defenseless.
Second, with such incredible “therapeutic potential” comes the possibility of incredible financial gain. A healthcare market dependent on stem cells will generate a multi-billion dollar industry for the companies and researchers who develop the technology and supply the cells. Government healthcare programs and giant insurance agencies stand to save billions in pharmaceutical products and time spent in hospital.
Ultimately, however, the question remains: why, in the face of the immense success of adult stem cells, are embryonic stem cells still disproportionately championed by a conspiracy of governments, the media, and the vast majority of researchers? For it almost seems as if there is an attraction to the sinful, the morally evil, and to all things previously considered taboo. The beginnings of an answer to this question emerge by considering that the use of embryonic stem cells is simply another face of the culture of death, whose other faces include abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. In his letter to the Romans Paul describes the culture of death, at work in every age, “who by their wickedness suppress the truth... they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened” for they “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom 1:18ff). He points to the fact that the consequences of living out the culture of death are intellectual darkness, impurity, and ultimately death itself, precisely what is being experienced by our culture today.
Our response to embryonic stem cell research should not be discouragement or dismay – we are confident in the power of the Gospel and the unshakeable foundations of the
“I repeat what I said to those families who carry out their challenging mission amid so many difficulties: a great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world… Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that the power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit; the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and sisters the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life.
“In this great endeavour to create a new culture of life we are inspired and sustained by the confidence that comes from knowing that the Gospel of life, like the Kingdom of God itself, is growing and producing abundant fruit (cf. Mk 4:26-29).”[3]
[1] Szabo, Paul. The Ethics and Science of Stem Cells. January 2002, p. 23. See www.paulszabo.com
[2] Taken from www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05012007.html, referenced
[3] Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, section 100.
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