US bishops’ conference blasts NIH stem-cell guidelines
May 25, 2009
In response to the National Insitutes of Health’s request for public comment, Msgr. David J. Malloy, general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has written an 11-page critique of the agency’s Health’s draft guidelines on embryonic stem-cell research. “The central fact of science relevant to this issue is the fact that the living human embryo at the blastocyst stage-- the being who will be destroyed to obtain embryonic stem cells for research funded under these Guidelines-- is a human being at a very early stage of his or her development,” he writes. “This consensus does not rely on a particular religious view, or a particular theory about ‘personhood.’ It is a basic human insight, a recognition that each one of us began life as an embryo and engaged in continuous development through the stages off fetus, infant, newborn, toddler, etc. to reach maturity.”
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Further information:
- USCCB Submits Comments To NIH On Proposed Guidelines For Stem Cell Research (USCCB)
- Full text of comments on NIH stem cell guidelines (USCCB)
- US bishops urge Catholic action against destructive stem cell research (CWN, May 7)
- Cardinal Rigali criticizes new stem-cell research guidelines, warns against impending legislation (CWN, Apr 22)
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