By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, criticized the final guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“In April I criticized the NIH’s draft guidelines for destructive embryonic stem cell research, saying that under these guidelines ‘federal tax dollars will be used to encourage destruction of living embryonic human beings for stem cell research – including human beings who otherwise would have survived and been born,’” the Cardinal said in a written statement.
“The final guidelines issued yesterday are even broader. Parents who are asked to consider having their embryonic children destroyed for research will not even have to be informed about all their other options – only about the options that happen to be available at their particular fertility clinic.
“Moreover, under the final guidelines, stem cell lines that existed previously or that are produced in foreign countries may be made eligible for federally funded research even if they were obtained in ways that violate one or more of the NIH’s own informed consent requirements.”
After lamenting the fact that the NIH tossed out tens of thousands of comments, including those filed by the bishop’s conference, he went on to detail some of the other potential problems with the new guidelines.
“For example, federally funded researchers will be allowed to insert human embryonic stem cells into the embryos of animal species other than primates; federal grants will be available even to researchers who themselves destroyed human embryos to obtain the stem cells for their research. Existing federal law against funding research in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed is not given due respect here.”
The debate on embryonic stem cell research will now shift to Congress, he said, where some members have already said the new guidelines do not go far enough.
“I hope Americans concerned about this issue will write to their elected representatives, urging them not to codify or further expand this unethical policy,” he said.
For more information about the USCCB’s “Oppose Destructive Stem Cell Research” campaign, visit www.usccb.org/stemcellcampaign.
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