'Designer Children' Experiments Dehumanizing, Says Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity 5/5/2004
From: Daniel McConchie of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, 847-317-4097, dmcconchie@cbhd.org CHICAGO, May 5 -- The latest edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association is reporting a "designer children" experiment where nine couples attempted to create children genetically-matched to sick donor siblings. In the experiments done at Chicago's Reproductive Genetics Institute, researchers created 199 embryos by in vitro fertilization and found that 45 embryos were a suitable match for a potential stem cell transplant using either umbilical cord blood or bone marrow. Of the 45, 28 were implanted and five born alive. The embryos that were not a tissue match were either discarded or subjected to research that killed them. John Kilner, president of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and recently returned from a meeting in South Korea with cloning and embryonic stem cell pioneer Dr. Shin Yong Moon, commented, "Beginning new human lives at the embryonic stage, testing them to see how useful they will be, and throwing away those who don't measure up is demeaning -- and not just to those who are sacrificed. Those who survive are demeaned as well since they are allowed to live only because they are sufficiently useful." Daniel McConchie, director of public relations and public policy for The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, said, "These experiments reflect the growing cultural tendency to only value human life that offers some concrete contribution to human existence. The act of choosing some lives over others entirely because of their genetic makeup is dehumanizing." About The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity is a 501(c)3 non- profit think tank located in Chicago, Illinois. Its mission is to develop reasoned perspectives on all of today's bioethical issues and to disseminate them to health care professionals, academia, cultural and church leaders, public policy makers, and the media in order to protect human dignity. Organization Website: http://www.cbhd.org |