Church welcomes ethical stem-cell breakthrough

By Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

21/11/2007

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, a longstanding advocate and sponsor of ethical forms of stem cell research, today welcomes reports of a significant advance in this area.

Commenting upon the work by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, Catholic Church spokesman on health care ethics, Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, says: "These are important breakthroughs in stem cell research which could provide scientists with stem cells which have all the desirable properties of embryonic stem cells, but none of the ethical problems."

"Human embryos would not have to be created and then destroyed to obtain these stem cells. In addition, the need for human eggs and the risks associated with harvesting them from women would be avoided. This alleviates key ethical concerns about the exploitation of embryonic human beings and women."

"Because every human life is precious, people of all religions and none will join Catholics in rejoicing that human embryo destruction is no longer scientifically warranted and has been superseded by ethical alternatives. It is a pity we have already wasted so many millions of dollars and embryonic lives on dead-end experiments."

"Even Ian Wilmut, creator of Dolly the sheep, seems to have abandoned the very cloning technique he pioneered and has embraced the substantially more promising techniques developed by Yamanaka."

"We were excited to learn of Yamanaka's initial breakthrough in this area back in June this year. At that time Cardinal Pell encouraged the New South Wales parliament to look for ways to foster ethical stem cell research rather than succumbing to the hype around human cloning. Although human cloning is now legal in New South Wales, we hope our scientists will take up this more promising and ethical alternative and that our political representatives will
revisit this issue."

"The Catholic Church will continue to support ethical stem cell research that extends hope to those among us who are suffering. We commend all those scientists who are pursuing ethical stem cell science."

Media Contact: Jim Hanna 0414 828 629