Ethical Stem Cell Research

There has been considerable controversy surrounding the issue of stem cell research in recent months. This is due to the fact that many scientists, actors, and politicians want to see the harvesting of stem cells from human embryos -- an act that results in the death of these tiny human beings.

But, says Father Joseph Howard, executive director of the American Bioethics Advisory Commission (a division of American Life League), "There's no shortage of scientific evidence showing the promise of ethical research from stem cells taken from adult tissue."

Fr. Howard cites several studies pointing to the benefits of ethical research on stem cells gleaned from adult bone marrow, umbilical cord blood or placental blood, including:

• A group of prominent researchers transplanted placental stem cells into 562 patients suffering from leukemia and a wide variety of other diseases to achieve beneficial results. (New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 26, 1998, Vol. 339 No. 22, pp. 1565-1577)

• University of Pittsburgh scientists demonstrated that muscle-derived stem cells can become bone after transplantation.

• The National Neurological Institute in Milan demonstrated that neural stem cells (when transplanted into bone marrow) became a variety of cell types including myeloid, lymphoid, and hematopoietic cells.

• The National Academy of Science demonstrated that bone marrow stem cells can become brain cells. (ALL News release, March 13, 2001)

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