Lives to be thrown?

With the manufacture of hybrid embryos, half-man half-animal, approved by the British government in recent days, the door to the “trans-human” has been opened. “From a biblical point of view it is interesting to recall that in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy it is written that seeds of widely different species shall not be crossbred. The creation is established through precise lines. And according to the biblical texts these cannot be disturbed”, declares Gregory Katz, Professor of Bioethics and Therapeutic Innovation at the Essec Business School of Paris and Singapore, condemning the new British law that permits the creation of so-called chimera embryos to be used to produce human spare parts. His condemnation is not limited just to the ethical and religious level, but derives its justification also and especially from scientific considerations. The 36-year-old Jewish scholar, whose grandmother survived the death camps, is Vice-President of the Eurocord Association, a European platform of research on stem cells extracted from the blood of the umbilical cord. Daniele Rocchi, on behalf of SIR Europe , met Katz at Subiaco (near Rome), where he was presented with the St. Benedict Prize for promotion of life and the family on 24 May.In the name of progress science is preparing the exploitation of man by man himself. Does that not seem paradoxical to you?“Apart from the purely biblical aspect I have already pointed out, there’s a more humanist dimension that makes it indispensable to specify the significance of human dignity. Man is the sole creature capable of thinking and reflecting. With these new techniques the aim is to construct transhuman, or worse still, expendable beings: beings considered not wholly human and as such devoid of dignity and hence not worthy of respect. Man, in this perspective, is no longer at the centre of the world. We are heading towards the creation of the minotaur, half man and half animal. Genetic science and humanism should seek to reconcile each other through dialogue”.The treatment of many diseases is pleaded in defence of such experiments…“The question we need to understand is whether the end justifies the means. The real problem is to know whether other means exist to achieve this objective. And these means already exist. Doing research on stem cells to treat diseases is an excellent idea. But the use of hybrid embryos is not the only method to this end. There are stem cells within the blood of the umbilical cord, or adult stem cells that can be re-programmed in such a way as to be indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, as has been demonstrated by the Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University. If adult cells can be re-programmed, why create hybrid embryos? It is legitimate to pose the question: is the aim to cure, or is it to clone?”.How much influence has business in this choice of field?“The companies that are working on cloning are quoted on the stock exchange. They are very important lobbies that want to maintain their field of research. They are powerful politically, but they are also ‘embarrassed’ by the competition of research on stem cells from the umbilical cord and on the re-programming of adult cells”. Is that why little is spoken about cells extracted from the umbilical cord?“Research on stem cells from the blood of the umbilical cord has been continuing over the last 37 years. During these years they have been grafted into some 2000 patients. They are cells that permit a cure of leukaemia, lymphomas, autoimmune and genetic diseases. From the blood cells of the umbilical cord we have derived cells of neurons, muscle cells, cardiac, pulmonary and pancreatic cells for the treatment of diabetes. We have thousands of patients treated with stem cells from the blood of umbilical cord and none with embryonic cells. I have been to the European Parliament to speak of this issue. I am campaigning to ensure that these cells exist, but there are lobbies that are more ideologically motivated than they are scientific and that are conducting an essentially unscientific debate. Ian Wilmut, the British scientist famous for having cloned Dolly the sheep in 1997, renounced cloning six months ago, and has in effect dedicated himself instead to research on adult cells, when he discovered that adult cells can be re-programmed, reversing their biological clock, as demonstrated by the Japanese Yamanaka. The treatment of diseases is a false alibi. There’s a kind of narcosis caused by the fascination that is exerted by the notion of progress, but that can so easily turn into its opposite”. Yet in Europe the tendency to do research on embryonic cells rather than on adult cells seems to be advancing. Why?“It’s an economic problem based on patents. If Europe fails to take the initiative, this research will be conducted in China, in Singapore and in Korea or in the USA. Europe would then become dependent and would have to pay royalties to these countries. At the present time the European framework programme for research makes Europe more attractive with sufficiently permissive patents and legislation, but, I repeat, it is an economic interest that’s at stake”.