Interim Staff Researchers have again risked the use of fetal tissue in human trials for treating a degenerative eye disease. Elisabeth Bryant, who suffered from retinitis pigmentosa and was completely blind, has had her sight partially restored by a transplant of eye tissue derived from an aborted baby. In total, six patients with the disease have been treated by fetal transplants. "We [...]
LifeSite Daily News A stem cell researcher was "beyond shock" at how easily stem cells taken from eyes reproduced in the lab. "Within seven days, they go from one cell to 7,000 to 10,000 cells," said Brenda Coles of the University of Toronto, lead author of a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from Toronto and Lausanne, [...]
There are many issues of importance in the realms of human reproduction and genetics: From birth control and abortion to in-vitro fertilization and cloning. Today, though, I would like to talk about a topic that is no less relevant to us; that is, stem cell research and what it means to us as Christians. Let's begin at the beginning. What is a [...]
By now, even I am getting tired of reading about embryonic stem cell research. Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry has made it a campaign issue and the deaths this year of Ronald Reagan, who had Alzheimer's, and Christopher Reeve, who had a spinal cord injury, have focused attention on the political debate over such research. Two recent items, though, caught my [...]
On Oct. 9, the embryonic stem cell research movement got its martyr with the death of actor Christopher Reeve. A decade ago, the man who played Superman in a series of movies in the 1970s and 1980s fell in a horse-riding accident and became a quadriplegic. In recent years, he became the poster-child for ESCR and one of its leading activists. Not [...]
LifeSite NewsStem cell scientists have wasted no time in going ahead with research using discarded embryos from IVF clinics. Dr. Ronald Worton, scientific director of the Stem Cell Network, is co-ordinating a national effort to create stem cell lines from living human beings in the embryonic stage. Many studies have shown that embryonic stem cells have proven to be virtually useless in [...]
Pro-lifers say it would be wrong to promote embryo research as Reagan legacy Interim staff Ronald Reagan's death from Alzheimer's triggered an outpouring of support for human embryonic stem cell research from numerous members of Congress emboldened by the comments of Reagan's widow, Nancy. But, in an article in Human Events Online Michael Reagan protested the use of his father's name to [...]
Embryonic stem cell research Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry attacked President George W. Bush for his views on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), saying he is putting politics before science. "The American people deserve a president who understands that when America invests in science and technology and higher education, we can build a new and stronger economy for the 21st century [...]
In its March 3, 2004 issue, LifeSite Daily News made the following statement, "The Senate's social affairs, science and technology committee has unanimously approved Bill C-6, an Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research." The bill will now go to the third and final reading in the Senate and be given a final vote directly thereafter. "The legislation allows destructive research [...]
By Paul Tuns The InterimOn March 11, the Senate approved Bill C-6, An Act Respecting Assisted Human Reproduction and Related Research (formerly C-13). The media dutifully did the government's bidding by erroneously reporting that the government's reproductive and experimental technologies bill bans human cloning and regulates embryonic stem cell research. Such claims have proven to be untrue. As an analysis by Campaign [...]
Abortion The Minnesota Medical Association calls a state health department website mentioning studies linking abortion and breast cancer "misleading" and "confusing," while the state branch of the American College of Obstretricians and Gynecologists says the site is deceptive. The health department also claims there are studies that say there is no link ... The Centre for Reproductive Rights tells Focus on the Family, the Catholic Family [...]
By Gillian Long The InterimPro-lifers were very concerned after the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute's third annual Connie Heng Lecture in Bioethics on Nov. 14, with keynote speaker Fr. Kevin O'Rourke, O.P., who presented the topic, "The Nutrition-Hydration Debate: Various Options." Following his address, a panel of experts discussed the paper. O'Rourke is a well-known advocate for the removal of food and fluids [...]
By Sam Singson The InterimIn an unprecedented move, the General Assembly on Dec. 9 struck down a legal committee decision that would have delayed negotiations on a convention against human cloning for two years. Without having to resort to a vote, the assembly agreed to put the issue of cloning back on the agenda for the next session, which begins in September. [...]
Same-sex 'marriage' Without a doubt, the biggest news story of 2003 is the June 10 Ontario Superior Court decision granting marriage rights to homosexual couples. This decision, in which three judges ignored millennia of tradition and replaced the law with their personal wishes, has serious implications for the family, our society, national politics and the future of our democracy. The first and [...]
The reason that the ALS Society of Canada, and other like-minded organizations, want the government to approve Bill C-13 is so that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research will fund pharmaceutical companies to do such research on human embryos using taxpayers' money. These pharmaceutical companies are eager for taxpayer dollars, too. But the fact that they are eager for government money highlights [...]