Christian Right opponents of embryonic stem cell research regularly tell us that it’s entirely pointless. It hasn’t yet produced any cures, it’s immoral and unethical, adult stem cells are the way to go etc. But let’s look at a specific condition, namely diabetes:

Having already discovered the method for coaxing mouse embryonic stem cells to become insulin-secreting pancreas cells, Professor Alan Trounson says his team at Monash University will be among the first to apply for a new licence to try the technique in humans.

The ultimate aim is to combine a patient’s DNA with a donated egg and then grow the specialised cells - known as islets - in the laboratory. Those cells could then be injected into the vein that drains into the liver, where they would carry out their normal function of secreting insulin in response to blood-sugar levels.

So why the need for embryonic cloning in this instance?

‘In principle, two-thirds of the problems for the type 1 diabetes solution are already there’, said Professor Ian Frazer. ‘We know how to put the islet cells in, we know how to protect them, we just don’t have them.’

Professor Frazer said human embryonic cloning was the only feasible way to create islet cells that wouldn’t be rejected by the body. ‘If we go the route of trying to get islets from cadaver donors, which is what we’re doing at the moment, we can only hope to transfer 20 patients a year in Australia. We’ve got 20,000 people who need the transplant.’

(Christian Catalano ‘Stem Cells: The New Frontier’, Melbourne Age, 11 Nov. 2006)

It seems to me that even if embryonic cloning ‘works’ in only one instance, as with diabetes (or breast cancer or multiple sclerosis or heart disease), it’s well and truly worth trying. You could even make a conservative Christian theological case for it based on the ‘lesser of two evils’, which is often applied to the question of whether to save the mother or baby in a difficult birthing situation.

Groups like the Australian Family Association and Endeavour Forum have made a lot of wild claims in this debate and we need to hold them to account more often.

Filed in: Christian Right, Stem Cell Research