Stem Cell Research, Ethics and Religion

BBC: Today Programme, March, 2009

Stem Cell Research and Religion
Hosted by Edward Stourton

Guests:

Dr. Omar Sultan Haque, Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Richard Land, President, Public Policy, Southern Baptist Convention; Member, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Stem
• Cells
• Religion
• Ethics
• Obama
• Omar
• Sultan
• Haque
• Richard
• Land

[omarsultanhaque]

So clearly no one would seriously advocate that women proceeding through their normal menstrual cycles are doing anything wrong even though there are embryos being destroyed all the time, the point is that noting this fact should help us reconsider whether it is best to consider an embryo as having the same moral weight as something more like us, for example something that has implanted and viably developed in the womb for a while. Thanks for the dialogue and noting an ambiguity in my delivery.

[omarsultanhaque]

"...The total rate of natural loss of human embryos increases to at least 80 percent if one counts from the moment of conception. About half of the embryos lost are abnormal, but half are not, and had they implanted they would probably have developed into healthy babies."

[omarsultanhaque]

The women and their husbands or partners never even know that conception has taken place; the embryos disappear from their wombs in their menstrual flows. In fact, according to Opitz, embryologists estimate that the rate of natural loss for embryos that have developed for seven days or more is 60 percent..."

[omarsultanhaque]

Here is an excerpt from a 2004 article on this topic from Reason Magazine, hope it helps: "Opitz, a professor of pediatrics, human genetics, and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah, testified before the President's Council on Bioethics that between 60 and 80 percent of all naturally conceived embryos are simply flushed out in women's normal menstrual flows unnoticed. This is not miscarriage we're talking about..."

[omarsultanhaque]

Thanks for your comment Andy, I hope this will help to clarify my jest: for every embryo that eventually becomes a baby, many, many more are produced and naturally do not become a baby (i.e. fail to implant in the uterine wall, etc.). So if one believes embryos are persons, then millions of "persons" are regularly "killed" through a woman's normal cycles in which she is sexually active.

[jimmyhoffa9]

you talk of ethics, which is fair enough. I dont agree with religion, but why should it be outlawed because of my opinions/ethics? what if stem cells had the chance to give a semi paralysed child their full ability like the rest of us? If that child was denied stem cell implants that they wanted, wouldnt there be a much more serious ethical issue? What if the mother of that child was willing to donate an embryo?

[andysonline]

@omarsultanhaque And you know what, don't bother to explain your point of view. You guys are way too brainswashed by religion to make any sense.

[andysonline]

@omarsultanhaque So why blame the woman? It's not done on purpose. Please use your brain! And if embryos aren't precursors to people, what is??? You're a joke.

[andysonline]

Are you are out of your mind Dr. Haque? Women should be convicted for having their monthly cycles?? What are you talking about? They pass unfertilized eggs with every cycle, not embryos. And for your information, embryos DO turn into human beings. That's where you came from and so did everyone else. Please get your facts correct before talking such utter bullshit. It's the misinformed, ignorants like you that the scientific community and rationalists very correctly laugh at.