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Back at the beginning of 2002, there was considerable optimism regarding the promise that embryonic stem cells were said to hold for millions of people suffering from fatal or debilitating medical conditions. Stem cells derived from human embryos, it was claimed, provided the best hope for relief of human suffering. Despite the profound ethical concerns regarding the use of human embryos for medical and scientific research, many Americans embraced this promise and the seemingly miraculous hope it offered.The challenges facing embryonic stem cells were formidable. First, there was the concern that the cells and their derived tissue would be...

Earlier this week, the deputy majority leader of the New Jersey general assembly, Neil Cohen, issued a "Dear Colleague" letter imploring support for a bill currently scheduled for a vote this coming Monday. Cohen wrote: "[T]he stem cell treatment will be needed in time of war, and civil disaster. Experts advise me that in the military context, stem cell treatment will be the method of healing severe wounds in the battlefield. In the context of civil tragedies, stem cell treatment must be available to the public for treatment of injuries sustained, such as lung and eye injury from gaseous attacks....

In February 2004, Woo--Suk Hwang made world headlines when he claimed to have cloned human embryos using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer, and then to have derived a line of stem cells from the embryos that could be used for medical research. Enthusiasm for this first "successful" experiment in human cloning, published in the prestigious peer--reviewed journal Science, was tempered by the inefficiency of the process: It took 242 human eggs to get just one embryonic stem cell line.That problem seemed solved when, last May, Hwang published another article in Science asserting that he had again successfully...

Recently, I watched a new Hollywood sci-fi thriller called "The Island." It had all the trademarks of the Hollywood blockbuster – big stars (Ewan McGregor, star of "Blackhawk Down" and both episodes three and four of "Star Wars"), slick production (filming techniques that gave it a "high gloss" and "futuristic" look), great editing (the story moved crisply), and action, action, action (the newest version of the impossible but entertaining car-chase).What caught my attention, however, was the film's subject. It concerns a group of people living in an underground shelter. The shelter protects them from radiation poisoning. It seems there has...

Safeguarding Human Life: The Very BeginningIntroductionLiving in a culture which has lost its fundamental moral anchor, we should not be surprised at the attacks on human life, at all stages of development, in our nation. On the contrary, we must be vigilant in promoting the respect for human life, safeguarding the life of every brother and sister from the moment of inception to the moment of natural death. During the coming months, we will face a particular challenge in safeguarding human life at its very beginning. Proponents of human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research are proposing an amendment to the...

Cloning Useful Lives: The American Medical Association Ethics By Dr. Pat LappertChief Medical Advisor This past week, the governing body of the AMA did the unspeakable... Catholic Way - Useful Lives: The American Medical Association’s Ethics of Homicide (c)Patrick W. Lappert, MD This past week, in a vote that went without debate, the governing body of the AMA gave public approval to human cloning for research and therapeutic applications. Because this approval was given by the nation’s largest association of physicians, it will carry considerable weight into the arena of public policy and legislation. Human cloning is the process...