Kirk View on Stem Cell Research : Correcting Recent Press Reports

Articles by Jason Allardyce in the Sunday Times (15 January) and Alistair Gray of the Scotsman (Monday 16 January) unfortunately misrepresent the Church of Scotland views and those of myself. The articles refer to the Church of Scotland response to the Government's review of the Human Fertlisation and Embryology Act, which can be seen on this website. I am not the report's author, but one of a team of people who helped to draft it in December for the Church and Society Council. The report goes out of its way to present both sides of complex and sensitive ethical issues, as I did in my interview with Mr Allardyce.

The report thus makes it quite clear that the Kirk is not wholly against embryo stem cell research. Contrary to the Sunday Times piece, it did not 'accuse the Westminster government of plans to sanction murder by liberalising embryo research laws', and it does not say that 'proposals to allow the harvesting of embryos for stem cell research risk turning unborn babies into "research objects" '. The Scotsman statements that 'human embryos have the same status as new born babies' and that 'the use of stem cell research should be absolutely impermissible' reflect a view of some in the church, but not the formal view of the Kirk General Assembly.

On January 20, the Scotsman printed my article to clarify the position in which I acknowledge that certain possible developments do raise our concern. For example, "We are especially keen not to lose the Warnock Committee's concept of the special status of the embryo which undergirds the present legislation. The increasing uses of human embryos must never reduce them conceptually to items in a research catalogue. Embryo research should remain restricted to a limited range of circumstances, with realistic expectations of addressing human suffering and where no other method is available. The eventual clinical aim should be to develop therapies which do not require embryos, not for embryos to become used routinely in treatments."

Many of the issues discussed the report do not at this time represent the formal view of the Church of Scotland General Assembly, because they have not been formally debated by it. A detailed report on stem cells is in preparation for debate at the May 2006 Assembly, where we hope for somewhat more accurate coverage.
17 January 2006

Technical fixes may not solve Embryo Stem Cell ethical problems
Two US research groups claim to have found methods which could overcome the basic objection to human embryonic stem cell research. One seeks to extract cells without harming the early embryo, the other makes the embryo non-viable for a pregnancy. But technical fixes like these do not often solve ethical dilemmas. See why neither method is likely to be satisfactory for those who object to embryo research on principle ...
17 October 2005

'Therapeutic' Cloning Claims are Misleading the Public
Recent claims made by researchers about cloned human embryos are misleading the public. The idea of creating cloned embryos to provide genetically matched replacement cells for all patients with diabetes and other degenerative diseases would require millions of donated human eggs in the UK alone. That is not a likely prospect. There are also serious unanswered safety concerns as well as some widespread ethical objections.
20 May 2005

Commons Committee Embryo Report Ethically Naive and Disturbing
The House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology report on reproductive technologies shows a libertarian agenda which is ethically naive and out of touch with society. The fact that serious objections to the report have been raised by half the committee, both on content and procedure, points to a very ill-conceived report.
30 March 2005

Ethical Problems with Roslin Cloned Embryo Research Decision
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's decision to grant the Roslin Institute a license to create cloned human embryos poses ethical problems beyond the strict legality of the proposed research. We commend the aim of the Roslin proposal, to produce cells which exhibit motor neurone disease for studying the causes of this awful disease, but is this reason enough to make cloned embryos?
8 February 2005

Caution advised over Roslin Cloned Embryo Research
The Roslin Institute's application for a license to create cloned human embryos to study motor neuron disease is laudable in its intentions but it also raises a number of serious ethical issues, not least the abuse of cloning research by maverick scientists abroad.
28 September 2004

Embryo selection for tissue matching too instrumental
The HFEA decision to allow embryo selection of a new child to be a tissue match for a sick sibling runs into serious ethical problems and sets a precedent for choosing a child according to its function which we should not follow.
21 July 2004

Cloned Embryo Research premature and could lead to abuse
An evaluation of the Newcastle proposal for research with cloned and parthenogenetic embryos.
18 June 2004

Climate Change in Scotland: Adapt, move or die?
Climate scientists say Scotland could warm up by 1.5-2.0^oC within 50 years, to become warmer than at any time since the last Ice Age. For some of Scotland's wildlife it could be bad news as things get hotter, wetter and stormier. Scotland has already warmed enough that some southerly species are now breeding in Scotland, but where do our northerly and mountain species go? The Scottish primrose that blooms along coasts in Caithness and Orkney, and the snow bunting and Arctic hare that rely on snow cover on the mountains, are potentially under threat … because there is nowhere else to go. Dr Noranne Ellis of Scottish Natural Heritage will describe what is happening, the latest predictions, and conservation strategies that could help, and Dr Donald Bruce of the SRT Project asks how far should we go in our duty to save our fellow creatures.
4 April 2004

The Government is irresponsible to ignore Public Opinion on GM
The Government is behaving irresponsibly towards the electorate in deciding to go ahead with growing GM maize. Last summer's GM Nation consultation made quite clear that public do not want the present round of GM crops to be grown in Britain at this time. SRT was involved in promoting the debate and believes this will seriously damage future prospects for seeking public views on biotechnology. The Church of Scotland is not opposed to GM crops or GM food in principle, but the scientific justification to grow GM maize is also flawed.
9 March 2004

Problems with New Human Cloning Proposals
Comment on Professor Ian Wilmut's article in the New Scientist of 19 February, in which he proposes uses of cloned human embryos and advocates a situation in which producing cloned babies might be justified.
Revised 19 February 2004

Cloned Human Embryos - Implications of Korean Scientists' Results
Today Korean scientists presented their detailed results to the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle. SRT Director Dr Bruce was in the audience. The results are genuine and well attested, but it raises important ethical issues.
Revised 12 February 2004

Should we become a GM Nation
SRT considers the evidence from various quarters and updates whether we in the UK should or should not go ahead with GM crops and also its global status. We conclude that sInce public concern remains very high, it should not do so yet. While the door should not be closed on GM, nonetheless at this time the Government lacks any public mandate to commence commercial growing the present type of GM crops.
Undated

Edinburgh Debates GM Crops ... with a Card Game
As part of the UK-wide GM Nation debate, SRT and the Centre for Human Ecology have organised a discussion for Edinburgh citizens 18:30-21:00 on Wednesday 18 June, at Edinburgh City Chambers But it will be a debate with a difference - playing a card game. To debate the controversial issues of GM crops, we have chosen a new way of democratic discussion called DEMOCS, devised by the New Economics Foundation which sets the discussion in the form of a card game. SRT Director Donald Bruce helped New Economics Foundation prepare the game. "After so much polarisation, we want to take the GM debate back to the people and hear from the ordinary public."
17 June 2003, immediate release

The Search for Human Perfection : Who has the perfect genes and perfect physique - a model, an athlete, or your own?
50 years after unravelling the DNA helix, what are the frontiers of human potential and what are the limits? If people push their bodies with cosmetic surgery, why not performance enhancing drugs or genetic enhancement? Or is a life not a 'post-human' manipulated future but about handling who and what we are? Are we trying to play God and become immortal? On 22 April 2003, top speakers at SRT Project debate at the Edinburgh International Science Festival examine the outer reaches of genetic science and bodily enhancement and the limits ... if any.
17 April 2003, embargoed to midnight 21 April

Dolly the Sheep : The Death of an Icon
The death of Dolly the cloned sheep is an untimely end to an experiment which rewrote the laws of biology. She became an icon for both the promise and the threat of biotechnology - bringing home, in a way no other recent discovery has, the need to bring ethics into the heart of scientific research. She stressed the urgent need to guide how we should use the biotechnology she represented, and where we should draw the line and say "we could do it, but we're not going to." More than anything she represents a limit of technology - that we must not apply reproductive cloning to humans.
Released 14 February 2003

Cloned Babies Unethical says Church of Scotland
In the absence of proper proof, the claims must be treated with scepticism, but in trying to clone humans the Raelian groups are taking unacceptable risks with human beings and acting unethically. Reasons are given why the cloning of human beings should be regarded as ethically wrong, but any cloned child should not be stigmatised as abnormal. People are also being misled if they are led to believe cloning will recreate a lost child or lead to immortality. The claims are a strong reason why the USA must act quickly to pass domestic legislation to ban reproductive human cloning and to drop its current resistance to a UN worldwide ban.
Released 27 December 2002

International Repercussions for proposed Roslin Embryo Cloning Research
Internationally sensitive ethical questions are raised by the Roslin Institute's consideration to apply for a stem cell research licence which might involve creating human cloned embryos. While not illegal, it would require unusual justification, and there could be far reaching implications related to a United Nations proposal to ban human cloning.
Released 12 October 2002

Kirk calls on United Nations to ban Reproductive Cloning
Dr Donald Bruce, Director of the Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland will today address United Nations delegates in New York to support a global ban on human reproductive cloning on the eve of a crucial UN committee vote this week. The UN committee responsible for technology will debate a joint proposal by the German and French Governments for a UN treaty which would make any attempt to clone babies illegal worldwide.
Released 24 September 2002

Governments fail to show Political Will of their own Civil Societies
While so much has been given away at the level of government negotiations, there are many evidences of major developments about sustainable development at all levels in the public, private and voluntary sectors - such as Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell's commitments to environmental justice - that shames the political process.
Released 2 September 2002

Johannesburg Summit : A Tale of Two Cities
The stark contrast between the shacks of Alexandra township and the luxury of the shopping malls around the convention centre contrast reflects an impasse between two world views which underlies much of what is going on at the World Summit - free market growth and care for the poor and the environment.
Released 30 August 2002

SRT in First Minister's Delegation at World Summit
Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell has invited SRT Director Donald Bruce to be part of a six person delegation from Scottish civic society to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg 26 August - 4 September, representing the churches and overseas development organisations.
Released 6 August 2002

Church should advocate sustainable agriculture
Greater incentives should be given to both organic and integrated farming says SRT's special report on sustainable agriculture to next month's General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. While sympathetic to the practice of organic farming, a Christian understanding also has "mixed views" about its basis.
Released 24 April 2002

Cloned Human Foetus Claim Unlikely
Claims reported in the "Gulf News" this week by the Italian scientist Dr Antinori to have a woman 8 weeks pregnant with a cloned baby may be just empty publicity, but his reported answers on the implications for humans of the dangers of animal cloning raise many concerns.
Released 6 April 2002

Cloned Cat is Cute but Ethically Unacceptable
Like all kittens, the cloned cat Cc is very cute, but as the only live birth from 87 embryos, this was a cloning experiment which should not have been attempted. Nuclear transfer cloning poses some serious animal welfare concerns and is only justified ethically in cases of substantial human or animal benefit. Just because a millionaire is prepared to fund such research, does not justify doing it.
Released 14 February 2002

Mouse Clones Die Young
The discovery by researchers in Japan that cloned mice die unusually young represents a further substantial nail in the coffin of any prospects for human reproductive cloning. Ten out of twelve cloned mice died early in the first study of the life span of cloned animals, with problems of the immune system, liver failure and pneumonia. This underlines the folly of those seeking publicity and funding for their claims to promise cloned babies for infertile couples.
Released 11 February 2002

Parthenogenetic Primate Stem Cells don’t Solve Ethical Problems of Embryos
The isolation by Advanced Cell Technologies of primate stem cells derived from parthenogenetic embryos represents a significant technical development. But the fact that such embryos are not viable does not solve the ethical problems for those who would object to using human embryos for stem cells. This poses once again just what do we mean by an embryo? It also raises some serious issues about the regulation of primate research.
Released 31 January 2002

Dolly’s Arthritis - Don’t Jump to Conclusions too Fast
Dolly the cloned sheep has arthritis, but don’t jump to hasty conclusions to condemn animal cloning. This may be a signficant indicator about cloning but a single case proves nothing scientifically at this stage. SRT repeats the call it first made in 1997 for a full scientific study into the animal welfare aspects of cloning. The use of animal cloning for medical purposes is only ethical if the animal welfare is acceptable.
Released 4 January 2002

Cautious Welcome for "Knockout" Pigs but Ethical Doubts Remain
What ethical issues are raised by the production of cloned genetically modified piglets by the US subsidiary of Scotland's PPL Therapeutics plc with a gene "knocked out" which would otherwise cause rejection by the human body? Should we delete genetic functions from animals? Do the realistic prospects and risks of xenotransplanation justify such research?
Released 2 January 2002

Kirk calls for Urgent Cloning Legislation
Following the judicial review which indientifed a loophole in UK law, the Church of Scotland calls on the Government to bring forward urgently the legislation which it promised in August 2000 to remove once and for all any ambiguity over reproductive human cloning.
Released 15 November 2001

Does Nature Know Best?
Is nature always safer and better than human technology ... or are we kidding ourselves about how benign nature is?
Released 12 April 2001

Accelerating Ourselves to Death?
Is faster always better? At what point does transport and communications technology run haywire with the basic rhythms of life?
Released 12 April 2001