wfn.org | Bioethics task force hears expert testimony

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Feb. 6, 2002   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{042}

By Ciona Rouse*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Experts on in vitro fertilization spoke to a United
Methodist bioethics task force studying the issue of whether human embryos
should be used for research.

Meeting Feb. 1-2 at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, the task
force continued the work that it began in October toward developing a
recommendation for a churchwide policy on stem cell research. The United
Methodist Board of Church and Society formed the task force on the
recommendation of the 2000 General Conference, the denomination's highest
legislative assembly. The task force will report back to the board, and a
final proposal will go to the 2004 General Conference.

During its first meeting last fall, the task force decided that making an
informed report to the church about the ethics of embryonic technologies
would be difficult without studying the in vitro fertilization process. In
vitro fertilization is a method of assisted reproduction in which a woman's
eggs are removed from the ovary and combined with sperm in a dish. Two to
four of the resulting embryos are then placed in the uterus to impregnate an
infertile woman.

The embryos not implanted in the woman are considered excess and are often
frozen for future use. If a couple decides not to attempt reproduction
again, however, the embryos are destroyed or used for scientific research.  

More than 200,000 embryos are currently frozen in the United States,
according to legal expert Nanette Elster, assistant professor at the
Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of
Louisville (Ky.) School of Medicine.

Only 35 states have laws for assisted reproduction, and those laws are not
consistent across the board, Elster said.

The task force is questioning whether regulations should be enacted limiting
embryo production to a number that could reasonably be expected to be
implanted.
 
Stem cell policy expert Dan Perry, executive director of the Alliance for
Aging Research, told the group that he supports the use of frozen embryos
for research purposes because of the potential benefits to people with
diseases.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into nearly all of the
tissues in the body. Most scientists believe that adult stem cells taken
from already formed tissue may not have the same potential.

Because of this, Perry argues that researching adult stem cells alone will
slow the potential medical advances possible as a result of stem cell
research. Such advances may include rapid and less costly therapeutic drugs
and medical treatments for patients with diseases like diabetes and
Parkinson's disease, he said.

Perry does not believe access to embryos for research should be restricted.

President George W. Bush announced last August that federal funding would be
limited to researching only the little more than 60 cell lines already in
existence.

Perry supports public funds for embryo research because that would increase
the likelihood of public accountability in an area that could become
commercialized and abused. Public funding would also allow for faster
medical results, he said.

Kevin Wilson, the director of public policy for the American Society for
Cell Biology, agreed with Perry. Embryonic research has potential for many
significant medical advances, he said. Public policy should not impede the
process of discovering the benefits of the research, he said.

"There's a lot we don't know, so let's not make the decision to cut
ourselves off," Wilson said.

Perry considers it ethical to use embryos for research because it will
improve the living situations of patients. He acknowledged, however, that
the issue of research using human embryos is morally ambiguous, and he
expressed appreciation for the church's willingness to address the topic. 

After dialogue with the experts, two task force members, the Rev. Amy Laura
Hall, assistant professor of theological ethics at Duke Divinity School, and
Sondra Wheeler, professor of Christian ethics at Wesley Theological
Seminary, led a discussion on the moral implications of in vitro
fertilization.

Two task force members from church conferences outside the United States
said assisted reproduction is not a pressing ethical issue in their
countries.

Djumba Mamba, an agricultural geneticist from the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, said through his interpreter that his country has a lot of children
living on the streets and an abundance of poverty as a result of war and
sickness.

"We have so much going on, in vitro is least on our minds," Mamba said.

The Rev. Ray Sison, chaplain and former physics professor at the University
of the Philippines, said that his country faces more pressing concerns, such
as large numbers of street urchins, increased domestic child abuse and child
labor issues.

Both Mamba and Sison agreed that the use of embryos is important for the
church to address even though it is irrelevant to their Third-World
countries.

Hall said that the church should bring attention to how much money is spent
for infertile couples to become pregnant in the United States in proportion
to the money spent on supporting children in poverty.

The task force's chairman, Bill Scott, analytical chemistry professor and
Mississippi Annual (regional) Conference lay leader, led the two-day
meeting. Other members include James Chin, a retired physician and public
health professor at the University of California, Berkley; the Rev. John E.
King, professor of social work and religious ethics at the University of
Arkansas; and Catherine Moore-Kochlas, a sophomore physics student at
Stanford University. Jaydee Hanson, the board's staff executive for public
witness and advocacy, serves as the task force's staff.

Two other task force members Stanley Hauerwas, professor of theological
ethics at Duke Divinity School, and the Rev. Rosemary Ross, professor of
Christian ethics at the United Church of Christ's Union Seminary in
Minneapolis, were not at the meeting.

The task force will meet again in May.

# # #

*Rouse is on the communications staff of the Baltimore-Washington Annual
Conference. 

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United Methodist News Service
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