Vatican leans on embryonic stem cell work
UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum

VATICAN CITY, June 28 (UPI) — Roman Catholics involved in embryonic stem cell research now face excommunication, the Vatican said Wednesday.

The head of the Vatican department dealing with family affairs said in a magazine interview that "destroying human embryos is equivalent to an abortion ... it's the same thing," ANSA reported.

"Excommunication applies to all women, doctors and researchers who eliminate embryos," Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo said.

Trujillo said that "certain crimes" were being treated as if they had "become rights."

He also said the Roman Catholic Church was worried because "even talking about the defense of life and family rights is being treated as a sort of crime against the state in some countries — a form of social disobedience or discrimination against women."

Embryonic stem-cell research techniques involve destroying human embryos to extract their stem cells, which have the ability to grow into any tissue of the body. Researchers believe such cells could eventually be used to treat a host of ailments including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and diabetes.

Trujillo's comments come just before the Fifth World Meeting of Families, due to be held in Valencia, Spain, from July 1 to 9

Its like being kicked out of the Star Trek fan club for not believing in hyperdrive or for doing research that doesn't support teleportation.

Its too bad science can't simply "excommunicate" religious nutbars.

I just wished that the religious nuts knew what they were talking about when it comes to stem cell research (or any other aspect of science)

honestly though, is anyone surprised by this? as a matter of fact, i say let them do it - they can only hurt themselves in the long run.

excommunication is a public sign that they do not share our beliefs. i fail to see how this is "unfair". would you like me to go around saying that i am an atheist and go around preaching about God?

honestly though, is anyone surprised by this? as a matter of fact, i say let them do it - they can only hurt themselves in the long run.

yes, it will make us unpopular, and 'hurt" us. it will not be our fault for confessing the Truth, but it will be the fault of unbelievers for rejecting it. you may even destroy all of us, if you need, but The Truth nevertheless remains.

honestly though, is anyone surprised by this? as a matter of fact, i say let them do it - they can only hurt themselves in the long run.
But they will also supress advances in medicine

yes, it will make us unpopular, and 'hurt" us. it will not be our fault for confessing the Truth, but it will be the fault of unbelievers for rejecting it. you may even destroy all of us, if you need, but The Truth nevertheless remains.

yeah whatever. blah blah blah.

But they will also supress advances in medicine

do you think that a serious scientist in this day and age who has devoted their career to stem cell research for the good of humanity is going to be worried about being kicked out of the "heads in the sand" club? i doubt it. the catholic church has become a vestigial organ, hence the only people currently flocking to it are the poor and uneducated, while those who see the writing on the wall leave in droves.

Arent the embryos already dead? If so, why is it a crime? Get the stem cells out of the already dead, thousands of stored embryos, cure as many diseases as possible, and stop killing more. Solves everything. Altho, thats too simple, so I probably have my info screwed up...

Star Trek...hyperdrive.
That's Star Wars that has hyperdrive. Dunno what treknobabble shit ST has, though.

Lawdog,

yes, it will make us unpopular, and 'hurt" us. it will not be our fault for confessing the Truth, but it will be the fault of unbelievers for rejecting it. you may even destroy all of us, if you need, but The Truth nevertheless remains. And the truth is what?

Stem cell research is possibly the most important activity for the human race today. That the church can't see that is hardly suprising. They have been stifling science in their irrational ignorance since they came into existence.

Once stem cells display their miracle healing proficiency as we expect then the church will do an abrupt about-face and will praise the wonders of God's creation, you can take that to the bank.

Arent the embryos already dead? If so, why is it a crime? Get the stem cells out of the already dead, thousands of stored embryos, cure as many diseases as possible, and stop killing more. Solves everything. Altho, thats too simple, so I probably have my info screwed up...

*************
M*W: Embryonic stem cells are only viable at the fifth to six day of gestation. After that, they are too old and non-viable. An embryo at the 5-6th day of gestation is NOT a human embryo, although it may develop into a human embryo, it is not viable as a stem cell embryo after that date. So, no babies were killed.

Dont we have alot stored in freezers tho?

Dont we have alot stored in freezers tho?
Can't hurt to have more.

sure, but atleast restart testing on the ones we got....

Dont we have alot stored in freezers tho?

*************
M*W: I wouldn't go so far as to say "a lot." There are about 19 stem cell lines worldwide (or that's what we know about). The laboratory I worked in purchased some stem cells from another medical university, and we cloned them in vitro for our studies.

The uninformed who believe mad scientists are killing babies don't seem to care that these clumps of cells (they call babies) have already been stored in the deep freeze. Why doesn't that bother them?

What's god got to do... got to do with it? When the embryos are in the deep freeze, they aren't being used to promote human life. It's when they are transplanted into human tissue they become viable as regenerated human tissue in vivo.

Exactly, so lets just use them.

Exactly, so lets just use them.

*************
M*W: Never fear, they are being studied in medical and scientific laboratories all over the world -- even as we speak! Stem cells are being transplanted into diseased tissue in private facilities across this country. The buzz word here is "private." Public institutions are being held up by the bureaucracy of the PTB (powers that be) in Washington, DC. Public institutions are not given monetary awards from the NIH and FDA for embryonic stem cell research. Private institutions fund their own research. That's the difference.

Problem solved:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg19125584.500.html

'Virgin Birth' stem cells.

(You'll need a New Scientist account to read it all, but if you don't have one and want me to tell you what it says gimme a shout).

Yup a brief summarywould be nice please.

Doh.. I suppose it is good advertising for New Scientist if nothing else so hopefully they don't mind me putting it here. If there's issues, I'll remove it.

"VIRGIN-BIRTH" embryos have given rise to human embryonic stem cells capable of differentiating into neurons. The embryos were produced by parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction in which eggs can develop into embryos without being fertilised by sperm. The technique could lead to a source of embryonic stem (ES) cells that could be used therapeutically without having to destroy a viable embryo.

Human eggs have two sets of chromosomes until fertilisation, when the second set is usually expelled. If this expulsion is blocked but the egg is accidentally or experimentally activated as if it had been fertilised, a parthenote is formed (see Diagram).

Because some of the genes needed for development are only activated in chromosomes from the sperm, human parthenotes never develop past a few days. This means that stem cells taken from them should bypass ethical objections of harvesting them from embryos with the potential to form human lives, say Fulvio Gandolfi and Tiziana Brevini of the University of Milan, Italy.

The researchers created human parthenotes that divided and formed immature embryos called blastocysts, from which ES cells could be derived. Another group's attempt to create stable lines of ES cells this way stalled at this stage because the cells died after a few days (New Scientist, 26 April 2003, p 17). "We were more lucky," says Brevini. Different conditions led to cells that could be cultured and the cell line was still dividing two years later. The cells display most of the molecular markers associated with pluripotency - the ability to differentiate into any cell type in the body. The researchers have shown that the ES cells can form precursors to all of the body's major cell layers, and differentiate into mature neurons.

"This is the first example I have seen of this in humans, and it is potentially very exciting," says Alan Trounson, an expert in the field of stem cell research at Monash University in Clayton, Australia. "It could be a source of embryonic stem cells that's not embryonic in the conventional sense."

However, he cautioned that more work is needed to prove that they are ES cells, since they do not display all the characteristics expected.

The results were presented at a meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague, Czech Republic, last week.

From issue 2558 of New Scientist magazine, 01 July 2006, page 19

I would've assumed that those who are involved with stem cell research would have already considered the 'religious' implications of their research prior to getting involved, as it has been a heated issue with theists for some time now.

Hence, why would they care what the Vatican thinks, now or ever?

An impotent gesture on the Vaticans part, at best. Bicep Billy once again flexing his muscles at the beach.

Snakelord - many thanks - that was very useful to know.

Any time.

Lawdog,

And the truth is what?

I believe Pontius Pilate asked the same thing of Christ:

Unlike the synoptic gospels, the Gospel of John states that Jesus said to Pilate that he is a king and came into the world ... to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice, to which Pilate famously replies, What is truth?. The Gospel of Mark does, however, have Jesus saying "Yes, it is as you say" when asked if he is the king of the Jews, though he mostly sidesteps such questioning by arguing that the Roman taxes should be paid. (Wikipedia)

[QUOTE]Stem cell research is possibly the most important activity for the human race today. That the church can't see that is hardly suprising. They have been stifling science in their irrational ignorance since they came into existence

I cant believe that you would say that. The Church gave birth to science as we know it. Were it not for the favor and patronage of the Church during the rennassance and later periods, we would have no science. Unfortunately, since science now seees fit to disobey the Church in moral matters of which science is no authority, they will destroy themselves, by aborting in stem cell research perhaps someone who might have made the great science mind of the future.

[QUOTE=Cris]Lawdog,

And the truth is what?

I believe Pontius Pilate asked the same thing of Christ:

Unlike the synoptic gospels, the Gospel of John states that Jesus said to Pilate that he is a king and came into the world ... to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice, to which Pilate famously replies, What is truth?. The Gospel of Mark does, however, have Jesus saying "Yes, it is as you say" when asked if he is the king of the Jews, though he mostly sidesteps such questioning by arguing that the Roman taxes should be paid. (Wikipedia).
But Pilate was a real person, jesus wasn't

Oh, ok. i guess most writers back then commonly portrayed historical figures conversing with fictional ones. get real.