POSITION OF THE CHURCH ON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

VATICAN CITY, FEB 14, 2001 (VIS) - Offered below are excerpts from an interview given to Vatican Radio by Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, on the position of the Church concerning biomedical research.

What is your comment on the criticisms directed at the Church regarding her position on scientific research?

"The official thought of the Catholic Church is well known. She has repeatedly declared her appreciation for and encouragement of scientific research, especially when it is geared towards the prevention and healing of illnesses and the relief of human suffering, regarding such research as fully responsive to faith in God the Creator."

However, the Church place limits on research. What are they?

"Experimental science, like all human activity, must be directed to the good of man and the respect of every individual, both in the ends it pursues and in the means it uses. It must always respect man, every human subject involved in experimentation, especially in the most fragile stages of life and when the subject under experimentation cannot give consent. A scientific research which pretends to disregard rigorous scrutiny of the ethical nature of the objectives, methods, and consequences, would not be worthy of man and would expose itself to the risk of being used against the most weak and defenseless."

Criticisms raised recently also had to do with research on stem cells; what is the position of the Pontifical Academy for Life in this regard?

"In the document of August 25, 2000 which this Pontifical Academy dedicated to the use of stem cells, encouragement was expressed for research on stem cells taken from the adult organism or, at birth, the umbilical cord, as well as from involuntarily aborted fetuses, in conformity with the hypotheses already confirmed by internationally recognized research. ... The fact that this same Academy has expressed a negative judgement from an ethical viewpoint on the destructive use of embryos for stem cell research and for the advancement of forms of human cloning, inappropriately defined as therapeutic, was motivated by the viewpoint of rational ethics and certainly not by the demands of religious faith alone. ... Selective and discriminatory biomedical experimentation cannot be justified, not even in the face of hypothetical advantages, which are moreover achievable through other methods."

The criticisms also referred to positions which are resistant to the use of biologically modified animals and vegetables.

"Cautions related to previously confirmed health risks were simply shown, especially as regards the cultivation of seeds and vegetables which are used in the preparation of foods derived precisely from so-called 'transgenic organisms.' We also confirmed the obligation to inform citizens and to safeguard fairness in the area of economics, especially in comparison with developing countries."

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