Cardinal Keith O’Brien has issued a call for Scotland to lead the world in stem-cell research that does not use human embryos.The cardinal had written to SNP leader and First Minister Alex Salmond calling on him to set up a national cord blood bank, where samples from the 50,000 babies born in Scotland every year could be kept.
Cardinal O’Brien said he would like all hospitals in Scotland to start harvesting the blood contained in babies’ umbilical cords, which he said may hold the key to a range of life-saving treatments.
Cardinal O’Brien believes Scotland should now lead the world and take the ethical step of ditching techniques that use embryos in favour of the ‘cord blood’ research.
The cardinal’s latest move came after a heated debate followed his Easter Sunday sermon when he launched an attack on the government and urged Gordon Brown to rethink “monstrous” plans to allow the creation of hybrid human-animal embryos.
Since then, researchers at Newcastle University have announced that they have already successfully created the so-called “admixed” embryos, angering pro-life MPs who said their actions had undermined Parliament, which was currently assessing the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Bill.
The Christian Legal Centre has claimed that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority acted beyond its powers in granting scientists permission to create the hybrid
embryos and is taking legal action.
Cardinal O’Brien called such hybrid embryos “monstrous Frankenstein” research and also called on the Prime Minister to allow Labour MPs a free vote on the issue at Westminster.
The Prime Minister has promised his MPs a free vote on three aspects of the Bill after he heeded warnings that Catholic Labour cabinet members including Ruth Kelly and Paul Murphy might vote against the government.
The cardinal said that the use of embryos, who are very young human beings, in the research is wrong, despite suggestions in the scientific world that illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s could be cured by implanting stem-cells into the affected areas.
His views on the ethical collection of stem cells from cord blood are seen as an acceptable way forward for stem-cell research as it avoids the unethical experimentation on embryos.
Treatments resulting from its collection continue to be discovered by scientists across the world.
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