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SPEAKERS DISSECT ESCR’S FATAL FLAWS

“We live in a time of enchantment,” bioethicist and author Dr. Joseph Mauceri told the Maryland Right to Life Convention November 12.

“The newest enchantment is the embryo.  Scientists are in the thralldom of the embryo:  they want to use it to restore health and life, but to deny that it is a human life.”

Dr. Mauceri, who was part of a Holy See mission that persuaded the United Nations to ban all human cloning, was one of several convention speakers addressing the problems with embryonic stem cell research.

Kimberly Zenarolla, director of Strategic Development for the National Pro-Life Action Center, which is fighting federal funding of ESCR, noted that, while there have been 65 cures using adult stem cells, “not even one mouse has been cured” through ESCR.

Despite its completely unsuccessful record, said Zenarolla, five factors continue to fuel the push for ESCR:

1. Political pressure from organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Association, which brings children ages 2 to 17 to lobby politicians in Washington through dramatic emotional appeals.
2. Misinformation and confusion in the media.  Many in the media discuss stem cells without differentiating between adult and embryonic stem cells.
3. Money.  ESCR lines are patentable, while adult stem cell lines are not.
4. Justification for the Culture of Death.  ESCR serves as a justification for abortion, euthanasia, and other assaults on human life.
5. Utilitarianism.  Some think that ultimately, ESCR may lead to cures for diseases.  “Even if these cells could be used to cure diseases, we would still be faced with the fact that we are destroying one life for the benefit of another,” Zenarolla noted.

Nancy Fortier of the Maryland Catholic Conference said that in the ongoing battle to defeat funding for embryonic stem cell research, “It seems like the deck is stacked against us.

“The spin from the media [during the last legislative session] was unbelievable.  They said that the Maryland Catholic Conference is against helping sick people!”

Constituent support was also very weak, said Fortier.

“Legislators told me they were getting six times as many letters from people for stem cell research as from those opposed.”

In addition, she said, the legislators are confused.

The stem cell bill’s proponents assist the confusion by claiming that their bill to fund ESCR bans human cloning.

“Now, what [the proponents] are saying in the media is, “We’re just going to use frozen embryos, we’re not going to create any human embryos.’”

But even though the bill has been amended several times, it still does not ban human cloning, Fortier insists.

“How can we win this?” she asked.  “We win through education:  science is with us.”

To further this education among legislators, the Maryland Catholic Conference has started the Maryland Coalition for Ethical Stem Cell Research, made up of scientists and medical professionals who will offer testimony at hearings in Annapolis against embryonic stem cell research.

“We have a duty to heal; Jesus went about healing,” Dr. Mauceri observed.

“But we have a duty to good science, and an obligation to fight bad science.

“We have everything we need to make ourselves healthier with adult stem cells.  If we do it right, God will assist us.”