Human life faces new threats at its earliest stages and from new sources. Legalized abortion continues to permit the killing of the unborn, but new threats now come from an aggressive bio-science industry that is more concerned with potential profits than ethical objections to cloning and embryonic stem cell research.

Unlike the abortion industry, which operates on the margins of society and is not viewed as a major economic player, the new field of genetic-based medicine is considered a gold mine by communities and states searching for new means to develop business and create jobs in their area. The economic promise of genetic based medicine can make it difficult for politicians to resist the promises of powerful business and community leaders who offer political support in exchange for the legal protection of all forms of stem cell research even when it involves the destruction of human life.

The business and politics of stem cell research, and its companion technology, human cloning (often disguised under the term “somatic cell nuclear transfer” or “SCNT”), involve deliberate destruction of human life. The Catholic Church supports stem cell research that respects the sanctity and dignity of human life, such as research involving the use of stem cells derived from non-embryonic sources. But embryonic stem cell research destroys human life. Advocates of such research redefine scientific terminology to hide the fact that they are killing human life at its earliest stages. To counter the misinformation disseminated by much of the bioscience industry citizens must fully understand the terminology, issues and participants that are part of this debate.

DEFINITIONS AT ISSUE IN THE CURRENT DEBATE:

Human cloning – a means of creating a human being without resort to the human sexual act. Some incorrectly claim that if there is not the union of a sperm and an ovum (a female egg cell), a human being does not come into being. However, this is not true, and the result of successful human cloning is a human embryo. In fact, by definition, human cloning does not involve the union of a male sperm and female egg cells. Among the forms of human cloning commonly discussed are “somatic cell nuclear transfer” (or “SCNT”), a form of human cloning whereby the nucleus of a human female egg cell (containing 23 chromosomes) is removed and replaced with the nucleus from a donor human cell (containing 46 chromosomes). This biologically replicates what occurs during human fertilization (the 23 chromosomes of the female egg cell are joined by the 23 chromosomes of the male sperm cell) and results in a human embryo.

Stem cell research – research involving human cells that are capable of evolving into specialized human tissue. For instance, stem cells can create human skin, muscles, nerves or organ tissue. Stem cell research falls into two categories: embryonic stem cell research or non-embryonic stem cell research (sometimes called “adult” stem cell research).

Both proponents and opponents of embryonic stem cell research agree that embryonic stem cell research necessarily involves destruction of human embryos in order to obtain their stem cells – there is no dispute over this issue. The New York Times in an article on August 24, 2004 stated: “Human embryonic stem cells are derived from human embryos, about a week old, and the only way to get the stem cells is to destroy the embryos.” (“Stem Cells: Promise, in Search of Results”)

Proponents of embryonic stem cell research justify their activities by cataloguing the many diseases they claim could be cured by such procedures. However, their ethical reasoning is flawed: it is not right to kill some life in order to save others. In ethical terms, the ends do not justify the means.

In contrast, research can use stem cells derived from non-embryonic sources, such as human blood marrow, umbilical cords or fat tissue. Research using non-embryonic stem cells does not destroy human embryos.

Conception – what occurs in successful human sexual reproduction whena male sperm cell and female egg cell unite (also called “fertilization”). When discussing abortion, the MCC has sought laws that protected human life ‘from conception to natural death’. However, when human cloning occurs, there is no union of an egg and sperm cell, and as a result, “conception” as has been traditionally defined does not occur.

Some proponents of human cloning/embryonic stem cell research claim that human life is only established at conception, and therefore claim that the product of human cloning is not a human being. However, even proponents who honestly discuss the issue realize that the result of the act of cloning is a human embryo, which is then destroyed in the process of embryonic stem cell research (New York Times, “Stem Cells: Promise, in Search of Results”, ibid.).

For those less scientifically inclined, most of us are familiar with the story of Dolly the sheep, created by researchers in Scotland in 1996 using somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning techniques. Applying the most minimal common sense, one must conclude that Dolly was a sheep, separate and apart from the sheep that contributed the egg cell and the sheep that contributed the donor cell nucleus from which Dolly was created.