The Church view on human cloning and stem cells
1983 B.B. Min. 123
18. Affirm that complete human ectogenesis (through the utilisation of animal or mechanical “wombs”) is unacceptable as it is also the concept of surrogate “motherhood”.
19. Affirm that human cloning (should it become possible) should be prohibited because of the logical sequence of these convictions; namely:-
(i) the “oneness” of the marriage relationship;
(ii) the understanding that this “oneness” should be inviolate in the begetting, the non-begetting, or adoption of children;
(iii) the divinely ordained, complementary functions of husband and wife in their marriage, home and family;
(iv) the human rights of the child within the mother’s womb and beyond;
all combine to give the clear understanding that human reproduction by cloning is not and could never be acceptable.
2002 B.B. MIN. 84
The deliverance as a whole was approved as follows:
That the Assembly:
1. Endorse the statement on Stem Cell Research as set out in Assembly Paper No 11.
“PUBLIC QUESTIONS & COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE, ASSEMBLY PAPER NO 11:
REPORT ON STEM CELL RESEARCH
Stem cell research and the prospect of human cloning, have been in the news for some years. However, the whole pace of research has been intensified since the successful cloning of a sheep and stem cell technology which could provide cures for such ailments as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, etc.
"Dolly" the first successfully cloned sheep, was the result of extensive experimentation. Many unsuccessful attempts had been made prior to this and "Dolly" was number 277. To produce this one live sheep, "Dolly" scientists created 277 sheep embryos, of which 266 died in different stages of development or were discarded. Experiments in human cloning would involve the creation and destruction of human life on a massive scale.
Human cloning reached a new dimension on November 25, 2001, when a Massachusetts biotechnology firm, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), announced that it had successfully cloned the first human embryo.
Stem cell development for disease eradication was highlighted by the claim made by ACT that it does not intend to clone humans for birth (although others certainly do). They propose to now grow human embryos so that stem cells can be extracted for medical research a process which destroys the embryo.
Most countries have come down with a blanket refusal to approve human cloning, although it will be very difficult ever to enforce this ban.
The issue at stake presently, is the desire of scientists to use human embryos for so called therapeutic purposes, to develop ways to cure illnesses such as Parkinson's disease.
In America, President Bush put a hold on this development by granting permission for experiments to be done on existing human embryos only no further embryos are allowed to be destroyed to obtain any further stem cells.
In Australia, a similar issue has arisen and received considerable publicity due to Prime Minister, John Howard's statement to the effect that Australia will tread a middle path on this issue of using human embryos for stem cell research, saying that all existing embryos could be used, but no new ones can be created for this purpose of medical research. However, embryos left over from fertility treatments could be used for stem cell research, provided the parents involved agreed.
Mr. Howard says he is morally opposed to the use of human embryos for research, because it represented the 'slippery slope" toward killing human beings. However, his decision effectively places Australia midway between the more conservative approach of the United States and the more permissive laws of Great Britain, for example, which at present permits the creation and destruction of human embryos for research.
As a church we have accepted the clear statement of biologists of all persuasions that life begins at the time of conception when the spermatozoon fuses with the ovum, either naturally or clinically. Although further development in the proper conditions must take place over time before a human being is birthed, yet all the building blocks are in place in the embryo and the natural development over a period of time is all that waits the final entrance into the world. To say that these embryos are "cellular life" but not human life is to engage in a game of semantics. Every one of us started out as embryos with these same basic characteristics. To seek to redefine life in veiled terms puts us all at risk.
A great deal of moral pressure is being brought to bear on anyone who disagrees with stem cell research using human embryos. The argument is, "As these are only frozen embryos surplus to present needs, and therefore destined to be destroyed or which will expire naturally, why not use them in the hope of helping others? Anyone not agreeing with this viewpoint, is seen as heartless or obscurantist.
In the first place, all of us would like to cure disease of every kind. We would all like to be able to cure Parkinson's disease or cancer or whatever. If we do not know of someone who suffers from disease, we ourselves are conscious of the fact that we may be the next to develop symptoms of some disease in the future. This concerns all of us. But that does not mean that the end must justify the means. Nor does it mean that stem cell research using human embryos is the only, nor even the best way, to find these cures.
Furthermore, can anyone seriously suggest that the argument that frozen embryos will be destroyed or will expire and so they should be used for research is either ethically or philosophically sound? The ethically divisive programme of creating and freezing embryos, thus providing a dilemma about the end of unused embryos, can hardly be used as an excuse for wholesale use of them for experimentation. Such a position also introduces the prospect for this whole process within the IVF programme of being carefully orchestrated in order to produce a maximum number of embryos to use in the future. After all, the main purpose of reproductive technology is the creation in vitro of human embryos for fertility treatment and there is a great gulf between this and producing embryos to be harvested in the manner which is being promoted.
The impression is being given that this is the only hope we have of finding the cures we seek. But this is far from the truth. In the first place, the use of stem cells from embryos for the purposes envisaged is far from being an accomplished fact.
Further, other research is equally, if not more promising. It is interesting that the first institution in America to announce that it was creating human embryos just to harvest stem cells, announced on January 17, that it would abandon the practice. Officials at the Jones Institute for reproductive medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, which was responsible for the first American test tube baby, said they wanted to concentrate on other areas. Last July, the school announced it had used donated eggs and sperm to create embryos that were destroyed for experimentation.
Before that, researchers had tried to collect stem cells from embryos discarded from fertility treatments. The decision became a lightning rod of controversy and now the Jones Institute is backing away from the practice.William E. Gibbons, chairman of the school's department of obstetrics and gynaecology, denied that the decision was a reaction to political pressure and said the institute may use stem cells from some of the 60 existing lines approved last year by President Bush.
To quote Marcia Riordan from the Respect Life Office, "Embryos are not the only source of stem cells. Stem cells are found in various parts of the body, and the placenta. In fact, this area of science is 'taking off’ as new sources of stem cells are rapidly discovered.
"A universal stem cell was recently identified and it appears that it is able to differentiate into all bodily cell types. Scientists can 'tweak' these cells to replace lost or damaged cells for the same diseases which embryonic cells are supposed to cure. No embryonic person has to be destroyed to obtain these cells.
"Hundreds of thousands of cancer patients around the world have been successfully treated using adult stem cells. In addition they have been used to treat patients with auto immune disease, stroke, anaemia, as well as cartilage and bone diseases. They have repaired corneas and restored sight to the legally blind. Adult stem cells from a paraplegic woman's own body were injected into the site of her spinal cord injury. This apparently cured her incontinence and allowed her to move her fingers and toes for the first time. Many scientists are already working on these alternatives because they are safer, easier, more controllable and less likely to cause tumours.
“A recent report on these developments revealed that the "area of stem cell research has been marked by many unprecedented advances. A group of researchers has found that adult bone marrow cells, dubbed multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs), can generate specialised cells that might become the building blocks of replacement body parts. The Journal of Neuroscience published a study demonstrating that stem cells taken from adult bone marrow had been transformed into nerve cells. This was previously thought to be impossible. Other long held beliefs, such as the idea that the brain was incapable of regeneration, are being overturned because of research on stem cells derived from non embryonic sources. With each passing month, research with these stem cells is revealing the huge potential in this area. The hopes of alleviating many devastating illnesses may be achieved via methods which are not dependent upon embryonic cells and which therefore do not require the destruction of embryos."
Carrie Gordon Earle, Bioethics Analyst of Focus on the Family, said, "Creating life for the sole purpose of destroying it is unethical and unnecessary. The medical community should continue to advance the research progress already underway, using adult stem cells, as well as stem cells from placenta and umbilical cord blood, that offer promise in healing the body without destroying human life. The pace of science is rapidly passing the social bounds of ethics and morality. It is time for public policy to set reasonable limits to advance the preservation of life and protect human dignity." Concerned Women for America released a statement in which they said, "Cures are being found through ethical research. Every week new discoveries are announced, yet receive no attention because they are not controversial. On November 12, Japanese scientists reported that adult stem cells taken from patients' own hip bones were used to repair heart damage. Scientists at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia reported on November 11 that they can convert adult human bone marrow cells into brain cells in the laboratory.
"Stem cells from adults and umbilical cord blood are already being used to treat cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, to regenerate muscle tissue and to form cartilage and bone tissue. This bypasses the problem of donor rejection, as the patient is the donor. There is no need to go through the immoral and dangerous process of cloning when stem cells can be safely obtained directly from the patient .... We've been down this road before: the seductive promise of embryonic stem cells to heal the living sick. ....Missing is the profound truth that embryonic stem cells are not the only hope for these promising cures. Adult stem cells will do, and are doing, just as well, and do not present to us the ethical dilemma of reproducing human parts for their usable parts."
In Summary:
1. Life begins at conception and when we speak of human embryos, we must understand that we are talking not about "things", but about human life. In using human embryos for harvesting stem cells, we are talking about the destruction of the tiniest form of human life, but human life, nevertheless, and this violates the body of teaching in the Bible which Exodus 20:13 reminds us is to preserve and protect life. We are therefore not able to approve this procedure in any form.
2. The argument that frozen embryos will either be destroyed or will expire naturally, is not the same as destroying these for therapeutic reasons. It is clear also that once begun, more and more embryos would be needed thus creating a precedent and causing pressure to build for human embryos to be created simply for farming purposes to meet the increasing demand. If human embryos can be destroyed for research simply because they are going to die anyway, does that mean that body parts can be taken from the terminally ill for similar reasons?
3. This research is far from complete. Research in the area of stem cells is widespread and intense. Other areas than human embryos are producing results as exciting and in many cases more likely to resolve the problems of these diseases we are targeting.
Many scientists tend to seek ways to act on the basis that "if it is possible to do something, then they should be free to do it without being hindered by ethical considerations." But that is an Orwellian "Brave New World philosophy which we cannot endorse. By opening the gates to using human embryos for stem cell research, we will find it difficult to restrict the experimentation which may very quickly enlarge to embrace more reprehensible experimentation which at present fills the minds of thinking people with deep concern.
As Christians, we should wholly affirm the desire to develop new treatments for diseases and should vigorously support research into adult stem cells and other non embryonic sources.
LETTER TO BE SENT TO STATE AND FEDERAL POLITICIANS.
We are deeply disappointed that official sanction is being given for embryonic stem cell research on the tissue obtained from unused embryos involved in IVF programmes. We are concerned on several counts.
1. We are concerned because these existing stem cell lines are being regarded as things to be used for experimentation, when in fact they are extracted from embryos, the essential, foundational building blocks of an entire human being, and these embryos must be destroyed in the present programme in order to obtain their useful stem cells. The Australian stem cell lines are the result of that dismemberment of embryos in Singapore many months ago, then imported into Victoria, and now these cells are cultured indefinitely and sold to research labs around the world. Every one of us started out as embryos with these same basic characteristics. A human embryo is a very young human being and nothing less. This fact should not be obscured by re naming embryos as "cellular life", and they are not to be used as expendable material for clinical research.
2. We are concerned because although it is said that these embryos, surplus to the original needs in an IVF programme are either to be destroyed or will expire naturally, there is a great difference between this and the belief that they are therefore free to be used for experimentation. We are opposed to this just as we would be to the removal of organs from the terminally ill simply because they too will soon die. In fact, this raises the need for a long overdue review of IVF programmes which produce unwanted embryos, and the consideration of the programme adopted by the Norfolk Clinic of conceiving only embryos which are to be implanted.
3. We are concerned also because once this barrier has been crossed, pressure will build to cross the next barrier and to raise human embryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells, with or without parental agreement.
4. We are concerned because we believe the present direction is unnecessary. Despite all the publicity and pressure to use human embryos for stem cell research, there is no clear indication that the hopes of those seeking to experiment in this area will be fulfilled. In the meantime, stem cells from adults and umbilical cord blood are already being used to treat cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, to regenerate muscle tissue and to form cartilage and bone tissue, and where the patient is the donor, there is the added benefit of avoiding donor rejection problems. Stem cells taken from adult bone marrow have been transformed into nerve cells, and so on. These are areas of exciting development and already have proved their worth, and we strongly endorse this very positive area of research as providing our best present hope of achieving answers to the debilitating diseases for which we are anxious to find cures. There is then, no need to enter the murky world of harvesting stem cells from human embryos.
5. We are aware that our position will bring upon us the charge of being callous toward those eagerly awaiting relief from debilitating and life threatening diseases. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Christians we wholly affirm the need and desire to develop new treatments for diseases and should vigorously support research into adult stem cells and other non embryonic sources. Fortunately, there is no shortage of these sources and the success already demonstrated in their use clearly indicates the hope of earlier and better answers than those likely to be obtained from the use of human embryos. We therefore call upon all people who place a high value on the sanctity of human life to oppose the use of human embryos in experimentation in such work as stem cell research, which would endanger embryonic life, and to approve the other legitimate areas of research which are open to us without moral reservations.”
2005 B.B. MIN. 98
15. Advise the Prime Minister, the Minister for Health, the Leader of the Parliamentary National Party, the Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and the media that the Presbyterian Church of Queensland
(a) Is opposed to embryonic stem cell research and procedures using the products of embryonic stem cells because this Church affirms that personhood commences at conception.
(b) Supports further research using adult stem cells and cord (placenta) stem cells.
(c) Calls on the Government to amend legislation so as to:
a. No longer authorize embryonic stem cell research, and
b. Encourage adult and cord (placenta) stem cell research.
2006 B.B. MIN. 134
9.(a) Congratulate Professors Alan Mackay-Sim and Peter Silburn, of Griffith University, for their dedication to science in the area of adult stem cell research.
(b) Write to the Prime Minister, with a copy to the Minister for Health, the Leader of the Opposition and Senator Boswell, commending the Government for the establishment of an adult stem research Centre at Griffith University, and requesting the Government to abandon research on and use of embryonic stem cells.
2007 B.B. MIN. 99
10. (a) Note that the Moderator, the Clerk and the Convener of the Public Questions Committee, issued a statement in the name of the Church, expressing opposition to Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell research and requested increased research into Adult Stem Cell research. (COA 15 November 2006, Minute 06/212).
(b) Request the Clerk to forward a copy of the Statement on Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell Research, to the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party and to the Media, with the request that they vote against Queensland Legislation which would complement Federal Legislation on Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell research.
(c) Request Presbyteries, Sessions and Communicants to approach their local Member of the Legislative Assembly with the request that they vote against Queensland Legislation which would complement Federal Legislation on Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell research.
06/212 STATEMENT BY MODERATOR ON STEM CELL RESEARCH AND CLONING [AG 13]
It was moved, seconded and approved that the Commission of Assembly:
Publish in the minutes of the Commission of Assembly the following statement made by the Moderator on Stem Cell Research and Cloning.
Presbyterian Church of Queensland
Statement on Cloning and Stem Cells - September 2006
In approaching the matters of Cloning and Stem Cell experimentation both ethical and practical concerns are at issue.
The Ethical Position of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland.
The Presbyterian Church of Australia is a confessional Church with the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments as the basis of its theological position.
In past years the Presbyterian Church of Queensland has, at its annual Assembly, carried the following resolutions in relation to cloning and stem cell experimentation;
1980 BB Minute 116
That the Assembly;
8. Affirm the Biblical teaching of the Right to Life, especially as this applies to the unborn child, that all life is sacred to God, and that human life is a gift of God from conception.
1983 BB Minute 123
That the Assembly;
18. Affirm that complete human ectogenesis (through the utilisation of animal or mechanical “wombs”) is unacceptable as is also the concept of surrogate “motherhood”.
19. Affirm that human cloning (should it become possible) should be prohibited because of the logical sequence of these convictions; namely:-
(i) the “oneness” of the marriage relationship;
(ii) the understanding that this “oneness” should be inviolate in the begetting, the non-begetting, or adoption of children;
(iii) the divinely ordained, complementary functions of husband and wife in their marriage, home and family;
(iv) the human rights of the child within the mother’s womb and beyond;
all combine to give the clear understanding that human reproduction by cloning is not and could never be acceptable.
2005 BB Minute 98
That the Assembly;
15. Advise the Prime Minister, the Minister for Health, the Leader of the Parliamentary National Party, the Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and the media that The Presbyterian Church of Queensland
(a) Is opposed to embryonic stem cell research and procedures using the products of embryonic stem cells because this Church affirms that personhood commences at conception.
(b) Supports further research using adult stem cells and cord (placenta) stem cells.
(c) Calls on the Government to amend legislation so as to:
a. No longer authorize embryonic stem cell research, and
b. Encourage adult and cord (placenta) stem cell research.
2006 BB Minute 134
That the Assembly;
9.(a) Congratulate Professors Alan Mackay-Sim and Peter Silburn, of Griffith University, for their dedication to science in the area of adult stem cell research.
(b) Write to the Prime Minister, with a copy to the Minister for Health, the Leader of the Opposition and Senator Boswell, commending the Government for the establishment of an adult stem research Centre at Griffith University, and requesting the Government to abandon research on and use of embryonic stem cells.
Other Considerations
Since personhood occurs at conception, there is a need to make a distinction between the production of embryos with the intention that they will proceed to full term and birth, and the production of embryos as part of an IVF programme for storage if not implanted and then being discarded or used for experimentation or the production of embryos as part of a stem cell experimentation programme with the intention that they be destroyed within fourteen days.
What has changed since the legislation on cloning and stem cells was passed 2002? Apart from success with adult stem cell research and threats of scientists to move overseas if they do not get their own way in carrying out cloning and embryonic stem cell research beyond that allowed in the legislation, nothing has changed.
The use of semantics in matters relating to cloning doesn’t change the fact that in both therapeutic cloning for research or reproductive cloning for a live birth, a living embryo is produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which if implanted in a woman’s womb could go to term. The process is the same for both, and both are unacceptable. As cloning requires the use of hundreds of eggs per successful clone, there is a risk to the health of a woman if she is used to produce this number of eggs. Even more unacceptable is the possible use of animal eggs with human somatic cells in this process to produce an animal – human hybrid.
The Presbyterian Church of Queensland calls on all Senators and Members of the House of Representatives to oppose legislation which would allow cloning or further extend the use of embryonic stem cells in experimentation. We further request that more support be given to stem cell research using adult stem cells and stem cells obtained from umbilical cord blood, as there are no ethical problems in these areas and in fact positive results have already been obtained.
Rt Rev Rudi Schwartz Rev Ron Clark
Moderator, PCQ Clerk of Assembly, PCQ
2008 B.B. MIN. 102
14.Note that following a conscience vote in both House of Representative and the Senate, legislation was passed allowing cloning of humans and the use of embryonic stem cells for the purpose of research and that the Queensland Parliament passed complementary legislation.
15.Note that developments in adult stem cell research have made the use of cloning and the use of embryonic stem cells redundant.