Scientist challenges church over research

6:03am Friday 16th May 2008

A LEADING scientist has urged Catholic critics of stem cell research to adopt a more commonsense and less dogmatic approach to the controversial issue.

Professor John Burn, who heads the Institute of Human Genetics, at Newcastle University, which is at the forefront of stem cell research, makes his plea in today's British Medical Journal.

He aims to defuse some of the religiously motivated criticism of stem cell experiments so research that could lead to treatments for a range of degenerative diseases can proceed unhindered.

His article, titled Can a Cell Have a Soul?, is a response to the Easter sermon delivered by the Scottish Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who said such research was "a monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life".

Prof Burn, who was brought up as a Methodist in West Auckland, County Durham, told The Northern Echo: "I do not want to pick a fight with the Catholic church. They picked a fight with us. I object to being accused of behaving immorally. We are acting in the best interests of our patients."

In his article, Prof Burn said the fact that stem cells have a potential role in the treatment of incurable diseases such as paraplegia and Parkinson's disease meant that people should "avoid erecting blanket legal barriers".

He said stem cell research was carried out "in a highly regulated environment".

However, he said there was one argument that could not be addressed by committee -that of when human life began.

Prof Burn argued that the Catholic position that an embryo was a human being entitled to full human status from the moment of conception was difficult to accept because it was impossible to be certain before 14 days had passed whether the ball of cells making up a developing embryo would become a single embryo or up to five identical embryos.

He said: "Just as the definition of death no longer depends on biblical interpretation, so medical need dictates that the origin of human individuality "must be defined with similar pragmatic precision. A cell cannot have a soul."

David Albert Jones, Professor of Bioethics at St Mary's University College, Twickenham, said the Pope believed the deliberate destruction of the embryo at any stage of development was a grave sin.

He said: "As a precautionary principle, life should be considered to commence at conception. Clearly Prof Burn does not see the profound significance of the human embryo, which is what invites respect.

"Embryo research is objectionable, not because it is new or yucky, but because it destroys human embryos."

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