“Faith, Compassion, and
Stem Cell Research”
Rabbi Dennis S. Ross
Director
Concerned Clergy for Choice
In “Faith, Compassion, and Stem Cell Research” (first aired March 2007) Rabbi Dennis S. Ross, Director of Concerned Clergy for Choice, underscored the vital importance of stem cell research by providing a clear portrait of the importance of this endeavor to people suffering terribly from currently intractable medical afflictions. His delineation of the moral imperative of "bringing comfort and healing to those in need of treatment"1 is totally compelling.
Further reading about |
| Hollywood director Jerry Zucker has created and launched a stem cell ad aimed at President Bush's veto threats of the bipartisan Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act overwhelmingly passed June 8th by the US House of Representatives. It has been posted on YouTube for your viewing pleasure: YouTube - The Politics of Stem Cell Research |
Religious leaders from all the major western faiths turn to embryonic stem cell research for the hope it offers to people suffering from Parkinson's disease,  juvenile diabetes, serious burns, blindness and other life-threatening and life-altering medical conditions. "Stem Cell Research: A Study and Advocacy Toolkit for Clergy" describes the medical, ethical, policy and religious support for this promising field of medical research. For a complimentary electronic copy of the Toolkit, please email Concerned Clergy for Choice. |
| "A 2003 RAND Corp. study estimated that there are about 400,000 frozen embryos stored at 450 fertility clinics nationwide..." Read further: "Patients Debate What To Do With Embryos After Fertility Treatments, USA Today Reports" |
| In "Advancing Stem Cell Science Without Destroying Human Life" presented January 9, 2007 by the Domestic Policy Council for The White House, President George W. Bush's ' policy on stem cell research that promotes scientific progress while respecting ethical boundaries,' originally promulgated in 2001, is restated. |
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) Introduces Legislation To Fund Stem Cell Research Using Altered Nuclear Transfer, Embryos That Have 'Died Naturally' - See Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy, January 25, 2007. |
With reference to stem cell research "Americans are divided over the question of whether it is morally acceptable to authorize by law, and fund with taxpayer dollars, research in which human embryos are destroyed...." An OpEd piece in the Wall Street Journal on March 14, 2007 contends that despite the controversy this issue insires, there are "six facts on which people on either side of the moral debate should be able to agree..." Read further here. |
Equality of Human Life Central to Embryonic Stem Cell Debate, Opinion Piece Says.
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| "Three leading stem cell researchers, including a NIH official, at a Senate hearing on [January 19, 2007] said that restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research are affecting scientists' ability to make advances in the field and that alternatives to embryonic stem cells are not as equally promising..." Read Kaiser report. |
| The Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy for Tuesday, January 16, 2007 offers "Editorials and opinion pieces respond to a House vote on Thursday to approve a bill (HR 3) that would expand federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is allowed only for research using embryonic stem cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001, under a policy announced by President Bush on that date." See full report. |
Resources on the Internet: |
Older articles: |
With a movie star's help, the Democrats discover a wedge issueMichael J. Fox isn't the only one making pro-stem-cell research ads for Democrats -- and the numbers show the ads might be working according to Alex Kopelman in Salon.com 11/1/06. |
The Organ Factory
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Everything you always wanted to know about the stem cell debateGeorge Bush's opposition to stem cell research is intellectually and morally incoherent. Here's why.Once again, George W. Bush finds himself confronting a nettlesome ethical and political debate that has intermittently dogged his presidency -- the fight over the future of embryonic stem cell research in America. See further in this June 2005 Salon.com article. |