Why the Church says 'yes' to adult stem cell research and 'no' to embryonic stem cell research
By MICHAEL WOJCIK
News Editor
CONVENT STATION - Medical research has been moving at such a lightening pace, it almost doesn't seem far off that doctors in the future might tell many of their seriously ill patients, "Take two stem cells and call me in the morning."
That joke, taken from a political cartoon, points to the fact that the rapidly developing field of stem cell research is growing at a breakneck pace, giving hope of cures to countless patients suffering from diseases such as brain cancer and heart disease and conditions such as spinal cord injury.
About these medical developments, the Catholic Church asks a critical question - what are the sources of these stem cells for these treatments and research?, declared Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a noted bioethicist, who spoke Oct. 16 at the College of St. Elizabeth here.
The question is essential, because the Church supports research on adult stem cells. Research using adult stem cells, doesn't destroy human life - in particular, the lives of the pre-born destroyed in embryonic stem cell research. Thus far, all known cures and treatments in the stem cell research have come from adult stem cells, said Father Pacholczyk, education director of the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center.
The Church says, "no" to embryonic stem cell research because the embryo does not survive the extraction of the stem cells, said priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., who spoke on "Cutting through the Spin on Stem Cells and Cloning" at CSE.
"Most forms of stem cell research are morally acceptable. The Church is not simply about 'no.' Most of what she says is about 'yes,'" said Father Pacholczyk, who earned a doctorate in neuroscience at Yale University, conducted post-doctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and studied advanced dogmatic theology and bioethics in Rome.
Stem cells offer so much hope for patients because they offer tremendous possibility - scientists can turn them into any type of desired tissue, including those for the heart, spinal cord and pancreas, Father Pacholczyk told a audience of more than 200 people, including doctors, pro-life advocates, CSE students and citizens.
Still people from many quarters of society, among them scientists, actors, politicians and members of the media, have been sounding an ever-louder drumbeat to push government officials to finance embryonic stem cell research. They claim embryonic stem cell research offers the greatest hope for cures to diseases such as Parkinson's, even though science suggests otherwise, the priest said.
Issue arrives in New Jersey
Father Pacholczyk's presentation was timely, because on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, this hot-button issue will be coming to New Jersey. Residents will be asked to approve a bond issue that authorizes the state to borrow $450 million to fund stem cell research for 10 years, which the N.J. Catholic Conference, the state's public policy arm of the state's bishops, adamantly opposes. Father Pacholczyk echoed the state's bishops' stance on the bond issue, and urged Catholics and other concerned citizens to vote against the measure, which OKs funds for both adult stem cell and embryonic stem cell research.
In his often poignant talk, Father Pacholczyk asked Catholics to consider the "hype" presented by proponents of pro-embryonic stem cell research, which has yielded no cures so far.
"We believe that not to develop the (embryonic stem cell) technology would do great harm to more than 100 million patients in the Untied States alone, who are affected by diseases potentially treatable by the many medical applications of human embryonic stem cells," the priest said, quoting Thomas Okaram, president of Geron Bo-Med Limited, a U.K.-based company that has been pushing for such research.
In that same line of thinking, researchers argue that these embryos, which are usually "spare" embryos from vitro fertilizations, can be used to find cures rather be discarded, said Father Pacholczyk, an internationally known speaker on bioethics.
"That's a very seductive argument but it treats them as objects rather than subjects of infinite and inestimable value," said Father Pacholczyk during his talk, which marked CSE 12th annual pro-life lecture for October, which the Catholic Church marks as Respect Life Month.
The researchers' apparent lack of respect for human life extends to the other methods they use or hope to use in extracting stem cells, he said. They collect another type of cell, a "germ cell," from aborted fetuses. In Massachusetts, they hope to change the law so they can make embryos for experimentation. Researchers also have been working on human cloning, he said.
Here's the trouble - many scientists view embryos as nothing more than "a bunch of dots," Father Pacholczyk said.
"These 'dots' are exactly from where you and I came from," the priest said. "The challenge is to reconnect with exactly where it is we came from. This not easy to do."
Adult, cord stem cell use success stories
¥ Cancer: Years ago, 21-year-old Patrizia Durante, pregnant with her daughter, was diagnosed with a severe form of leukemia and was given six months to live. Doctors delivered the baby early and gave her chemotherapy, which failed to arrest the cancer. So they introduced stem cells from her daughter's umbilical cord (the Church approves stem cells from umbilical cords and placenta blood) into Durante's body, which eliminated the cancer cells. She is now cancer-free.
¥ Heart disease: German doctors have extracted from heart-attack victims stem cells from their own bone marrow and introduced them into their damaged heart muscles or coronary arteries. These cells repair scar damage to the heart muscle.
¥ Spinal cord injury: Laura Dominguez of Texas was paralyzed from the waist down. She went to Portugal, where doctors extracted cells from her nasal cavity and used them to bridge the damaged site in her spinal cord. With physical therapy, Dominguez can flex her foot and walk short distances with braces. This type of treatment isn't a cure yet, but is "a reminder that we stand on the cusp of new era of regenerative medicine" using stem cells, said Father Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
Acceptable sources of stem cells used to save lives
¥ Adult stem cells: extracted from adults with their consent from blood, skin, olfactory bulb, bone marrow, testicles, fat from liposuction as well as from other tissues.
¥ Pregnancy-related tissues: umbilical cord, placenta and amniotic fluid.
¥ Those in the womb who have died of natural causes from miscarriages-with the parents' permission.
¥ Cadavers up to 20 hours after death: neural cells.
- Source: Father Tad Pacholczyk, National Catholic Bioethics Center
