New Method of Stem Cell Research

Thursday's New York Times reports:

Biologists have developed a technique for establishing colonies of human embryonic stem cells from an early human embryo without destroying it. This method, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to the research.

One curious aspect of the article is its discussion of the Catholic Church's objection to embryonic research even when the embryo is not destroyed:

Richard Doerflinger, deputy director for pro-life activities at the conference of bishops, said the church opposed in vitro fertilization because of the high death rate of embryos in clinics and because divorcing procreation from the act of love made the embryo seem “more a product of manufacture than a gift.”

Asked if he meant that the parents of a child conceived through in vitro fertilization would love it less, Mr. Doerflinger said he was referring to the clinic staff. “The technician does not love this child, has no personal connection with the child, and with every I.V.F. procedure he or she may get more and more used to the idea of the child as manufacture,” he said.

If embryonic stem cell research can be accomplished without sacrificing the embryo's viability, opponents of the research are going to have to muster some pretty compelling arguments to slow the headlong rush to embrace the new technology.  If concern over whether clinic staff will grow jaded about the nature of human life is the best argument out there, the chances don't look good.

Rob

UPDATE: Thanks to Carter Snead, former general counsel of the President's Council on Bioethics (and now Notre Dame law prof) for forwarding the Council's analysis of this alternative research method (scroll to page 24).  The Council's primary (but not exclusive) ethical concern focuses on "the propriety of imposing risks of embryo biopsy and blastomere removal on the born child the embryo might become, solely for research of no benefit to him or her."