The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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March 25, 2009

Your View — Stem-cell research decision puts us on slippery slope

Tom Zahn, St. Peter

On March 9, President Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. After President Obama had signed the new legislation, Dr. Curt Civin of the University of Maryland Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine stated, “Now, the silly restrictions are lifted.”

Critics, however, pointed out that those so-called “silly restrictions” were put in place to protect life, because days-old embryos must be destroyed to use their stems cells for research. (Such days-old embryos are “leftovers” from fertility clinics, such as the one in California that helped Nadya Suleman give birth to octuplets in January).

When hearing such criticism about embryonic stem cell research, that leading research scientist, Civin, scoffed, “This was already life that was going to be destroyed; the choice is throw them away or use them for research.”

If life is that cheap (throw it away or use it for experiments), I wonder about the “ethics” — if any — these scientists have. And if this is the type of ethics that President Obama promised would guide federally-funded research with embryonic stem cells, it won't be too difficult to expand that research: This was already life that was going to end anyway (through disease, old age, execution, famine, etc.), so why not?

It’s a slippery slope, folks.

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