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 therapeutic application.
The research project will be carried out in three Canadian cities – Calgary, Toronto and London, with 45 embryos being killed to provide research material. The research will be the first to be federally funded under the new law passed just before the calling of the federal election.
CanWest News service’s Margaret Munroe has presented the case as one of brave scientific pioneers moving ahead with cutting-edge research, but opposition to the use of embryos for research is still lively. Worton, Munroe says in her June 9 article, is worried that a Conservative party win in the upcoming election will end the research.
Munroe ends her article contending that “much research is needed before stem cells will ever deliver new treatments or therapies.” Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), said, however, “These scientists know that embryonic stem cells do not work for the treatment of diseases. Indeed, not one attempt to use embryonic stem cells has ever succeeded.” Hughes pointed to studies showing the array of diseases that are being regularly and successfully treated with stem cells derived from patients’ own bodies. “Adult or non-embryonic stem cells, on the other hand, are already successfully being employed.”
“The use of human beings for experimentation should horrify Canadians,” said Aidan Reid, of CLC’s Ottawa public affairs office. “After all, we have experienced this atrocity in recent memory in Nazi Germany. These scientists call their research ‘exciting,'” he continued. “I call it disgusting.”
Campaign Life Coalition is calling on Canadian scientists to pursue adult stem cells and other ethical avenues of research. Unlike embryonic stem cell research, these methods preserve the lives of embryonic human beings, while saving the lives of adults.
