Читать книгу The SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research - Группа авторов - Страница 346

There are two types of stem cells: adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cell research is decades old and has shown the efficacy of stem cell treatment for autoimmune diseases, heart disease, leukemia, and cancer. Adult stem cells are harvested from blood, brain, or skin tissue, body fat, and living bone marrow, as well as umbilical cord blood and placental tissue. For Christians left and right the matter is settled, not a matter of controversy. Adult stem cells are good, and research should continue, perhaps accelerate. However, there is major controversy over the use of embryonic stem cells, those harvested from human embryos in a process that entails destruction of the embryo.

Pro-abortion groups, drug and research companies, and others support the research. But the Roman Catholic bishops in the United States oppose immoral, illegal, and unnecessary violation of the sanctity of life, which they believe begins at conception. The Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod also define embryos as tiny human beings. The Presbyterian Church USA accepts research when the ends are unattainable by other means and compelling.

The Bible backs easing of suffering and curing of disease and the general struggle to cure physical ailments. Jesus’s ministry involved a significant amount of healing. Luke was a physician. The emergence of regenerative medicine and stem cell research, with many groups seeking new ways to harvest stem cells and evaluate stem cell flexibility to create many types of adult cells, has raised a question in the Christian community. The question is not of legality, for stem cell research is clearly within the law, and not of cost effectiveness, because stem cell research can probably generate more economical treatments and cures. Rather, the issue is one of morality. What would God have us do?