UNITED STATES, Aug 24 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Immediately on the heels of Britain’s decision to support recommendations in favour of “therapeutic cloning” by way of stem cell research, America has also chosen to finance stem cell research, although it does not specifically deal with cloning. Yesterday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released their final guidelines for research involving human stem cells. The purpose of the guidelines is to determine how to distribute taxpayer dollars for research. Organizations seeking government funding will be required to honour the guidelines.
Arguing that stem cell “research promises new treatments and possible cures for many debilitating diseases and injuries, including Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, burns and spinal cord injuries, NIH said it “believes the potential medical benefits of human pluripotent stem cell technology are compelling and worthy of pursuit in accordance with appropriate ethical standards.” Ethical research, according to NIH, includes the use of human embryos as sources of stem cells, destroying the tiny human “donors” in the process. Ironically, despite this fact, NIH highlights as part of its guidelines the importance of “informed consent.” NIH has also limited funding to only those embryos that are left over from fertility treatment.
NIH acknowledges that “federal law currently restricts the use of Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) funds for human embryo research. DHHS funds cannot be used for the derivation of stem cells from human embryos.” The agency adds, that “the Congressional restriction, however, does not prohibit funding for research utilizing human pluripotent stem cells because such cells are not embryos.” As the Financial Times pointed out yesterday, this hair-splitting has outraged pro-lifers, including conservative Legislators who intend to fight the development. According to the Financial Times, several such bills have already been filed. American Life League president Judie Brown also condemned the move, saying that the guidelines “are an attack against the humanity of the individual human person. Millions of human lives will be destroyed by this false science.”