I commend the Vatican for its sweeping ban on artificial contraception, abortion, in vitro fertilisation, human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research.

Genetic science has great potential for either serving or degrading humanity. Its proper use requires moral reflection and the establishment of moral limits.

On a biological level, the pre-natal being is not like any other tissue: it is human with its own DNA, indicating that it has the same fundamental and moral right to life as any other human being.

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that embryonic stem cell research has more potential to lead us to viable treatments for various diseases than non-embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells carry the likelihood of immune rejection in humans. Animal trials suggest that they are too genetically unstable and too likely to form lethal tumours to be used for treatment.

Tests using human adult stem cells, however, have produced significant and encouraging results in the areas of Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, cardiovascular disease, sickle-cell anemia, and dozens of other conditions without posing any moral problem.

Human welfare does not demand that scientists pursue every avenue available. We must help those who are suffering, but we may not use a good end to justify an evil means. Human beings are not raw materials to be exploited or commodities that can be bought and sold. To suggest otherwise is to endorse a macabre interpretation of progress. Any method of genetic manipulation that involves the alteration or destruction of human embryos is nothing more than Frankenstein science.

Paul Kokoski

Hamilton, Ontario,

Canada