Religions split on stem cell issue

Australia's Anglican Church faces a split in its ranks with senior ministers at odds over embryonic stem cell research.

In a statement issued last week, 11 New South Wales bishops lent their support to the Roman Catholic Church, which has called for the Federal Government to support only stem cell research that does not destroy human embryos.

But Anglican primate Archbishop Peter Carnley was expected to put a new spin on the argument when he presented a paper at the Annual Anglican Bishops' Conference arguing that stem cell research on embryos left over from IVF might be ethical.

The Most Reverend Dr Peter Carnley said he expected support for his endorsement, which was based on the premise that conception and fertilisation did not occur at the same time.

He will tell the conference that conception is a 14-day process - between fertilisation and the time the embryo implants on the uterus wall - opening a window of opportunity for human embryo research.

"It means, in my view, that stem cell research in fact in that 14-day period while conception is in process is in fact possible, because we're not yet dealing with a conceived individual," he said.

But in the statement led by Sydney Archbishop the Most Reverend Dr Peter Jensen, the NSW ministers called on scientists to look to other sources of stem cells.

"We are against the destruction of embryonic life in order to extract stem cells, particularly when there are perfectly ethical means of extracting the necessary cells from umbilical cord blood in newborns, and from the brain and bone marrow in adults," Jensen said.

"There is no certainty that the sacrifice of embryos will lead to the cures for which we lone, of diseases that debilitate the lives of many people.

"We want to see illnesses healed - but not in a society that allows people to consume others to heal themselves. Destroying embryonic life to heal ourselves builds such a society, where the vulnerable are commodities to be used up by the powerful."

Meanwhile, orthodox Jewish organisations have declared their support for scientists to clone human embryos for medical research, breaking with conservative Christian and Muslim groups.

Jewish groups do not support attempts to implant a cloned embryo into a womb. "We must be careful to distinguish between cloning for therapeutic purposes and cloning for reproductive purposes, which we oppose," the Rabbinical Council of America said in a statement.

The Jewish position is that a fertilized embryo in a petri dish does not have the status of human life and it can be used to cure disease and save lives. An embryo is considered life after 40 days.

Reflecting their support of foetal tissue and stem cell research, a Stem Cell Transplant Program was recently established at the Jewish Hospital in the US, to trial controversial stem cell therapies in patients suffering from leukaemia, breast cancer and other diseases.

Jewish law might also allow the cloning of a baby but it is not recommended for a variety of reasons, including the high chance of deformities and question of parentage.

Muslim groups, Mormons, Protestant denominations and the Presbyterian Church have supported stem cell research, but orthodox Jews are the first religious group to endorse therapeutic cloning.

Opponents of the procedure argue that it involves the destruction of life and, in the words of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, beckons scientists to take on the role of God and reduce humans to mere spare parts.