VATICAN CITY, AUG 25, 2000 (VIS) - Made public yesterday afternoon was a declaration from the Pontifical Academy for Life on the production and the scientific and therapeutic use of human embryonic stem cells.
The aim of the document is "to offer a contribution to the debate that is developing and widening in scientific and ethical literature, as well as in public opinion, on the production and use of embryonic stem cells."
The commonly accepted definition of "stem cell" is that of a cell that has two characteristics: "1) An unlimited or prolonged capacity of self-renewal, in other words, of reproducing itself over an extended period without differentiating. 2) The capacity to produce non-permanent progenitor cells, with a limited capacity to proliferate, from which descend groups of highly differentiated cells (nerve cells, muscular cells, hematic cells etc.). For around 30 years these cells have formed a wide field of research, in adult tissues, in embryonic tissues and in 'in vitro' cultures of the embryonic stem cells of experimental animals. However, a recent landmark achievement has drawn public attention back to this matter: the production of human embryonic stem cells."
"Today, the preparation of human embryonic stem cells entails 1) the production of human embryos and/or the utilization of frozen embryos or those left over after 'in vitro' fertilization. 2) Their development up to the initial blastocyst stage. 3) The extraction of the embryoblast cells or internal cell mass, an operation that involves destruction of the embryo. 4) The cultivation of those cells."
The declaration goes on to affirm that "these results have shaken the worlds of science and biotechnology - especially those of medicine and pharmaceutics - and no less so, the world of commerce and the mass media. There were great hopes that applications deriving from the new discoveries would open new doors and give rise to safer therapeutic methods in the treatment of serious disease."
"In the United States in particular, Congress, which for years has opposed giving support with federal funds to research in which human embryos are destroyed," is facing pressure from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and recommendations from the National Bioethics Advisory Committee (NBAC) who both insist that the ban on human embryo research be lifted. Similar pressures have been applied in Britain, Japan and Australia."
"It is not yet possible to compare the therapeutic results obtained or obtainable using embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Regarding the latter, various pharmaceutical firms are already holding clinical trials that are showing some signs of success and giving rise to serious hopes for the more or less immediate future. Regarding the former, ... their application in the field of clinical medicine ... calls for some serious reconsideration as well as a great sense of responsibility for the dignity of all human beings."
Various ethical problems arise, the first of which is: "Is it morally right to produce and/or use living human embryos for the preparation of stem cells? The answer," says the document, "is no" for the following reasons:
"1) On the basis of a complete biological analysis, the living human embryo is - from the moment of the fusion of the gametes - a human being with a well defined identity."
"2) It follows from this that, as an 'individual human being,' the embryo has the right to his own life. Therefore any intervention, save those that favor that embryo, constitutes a violation of that right."
"3) Consequently, the ablation of the internal cell mass of the blastocyst, an act that seriously and irreparably damages the human embryo, interrupting its development, is a seriously immoral act and, consequently, seriously illicit."
The Encyclical 'Evangelium vitae' says: "The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life."
The second ethical problem is as follows: "Is it morally acceptable to carry out so-called 'therapeutic cloning' through the production of human embryos which are then destroyed for the production of stem cells? The response is negative," because "the same ethical problem posed earlier" arises again.
The third ethical problem may be stated as follows: "Is it morally right to use stem cells, and the differentiated cells obtained therefrom, when supplied by other researchers or available on the market? The response is negative because, apart from sharing - explicitly or otherwise - in the morally illicit intention of the principal agent, in this case close material cooperation also exists in the production and manipulation of human embryos by the producer or supplier."
The declaration concludes that the possibility of using adult stem cells "to reach the same goals it is intended to reach with embryonic stem cells - even if many more stages must be gone through before seeing clear and definitive results - indicates this path as being the most reasonable and human to follow in order to achieve authentic and valid progress in this new field of research and promising therapeutic applications. Without doubt, this represents a great hope for a large number of suffering people."
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