|
Stem-Cell Science Stirs Debate in Muslim World
Cairo
Egypt is joining the ranks of nations where scientists conduct stem-cell research. The private Egyptian IVF (in vitro fertilization) Center in Cairo is preparing to start such work in October this year, using stem cells from umbilical cord blood with the permission of the parents of newborns. It will not delve immediately into the controversial realm of embryonic stem cells or therapeutic cloning - a way of deriving stem cells from cloned embryos. But as technology and cost barriers come down, clinical director, Gamal Serour says he would like to eventually use surplus “early embryos” from consenting couples who no longer need them for in vitro fertilization. That could spark the same kind of ethical debate in Egypt that’s now raging in the United States, and the prospect provides a window into the Muslim world’s divided views about the issue. Most Muslim countries, including Egypt do not yet have laws concerning embryonic stem-cell research and cloning, says Thomas Eich, a researcher on Islamic bio-ethics at Bochum University in Germany. Some Muslims in Egypt, are open to allowing embryonic stem-cell research, saying the embryo does not have a soul until later stages in its development. But others agree with Coptic Orthodox and Catholic clergy, who say it is immoral, even infanticide, to destroy embryos at any stage to harvest stem cells.
Cloning, even for therapeutic purposes, is currently forbidden in bylaws instituted by the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, an independent body. The group also forbids the use of any embryos for experimentation.
“I don’t know whether this position is going to stand for long. But destroying embryos for research is not ethically right, it’s not morally right, and it does not conform to our Islamic religion as it stands now,” says Hamdy el-Sayed, the Muslim president of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate. “It’s already a human life at conception.” So far, he says, Egypt allows only non-embryonic stem-cell research, using sources such as umbilical cord blood.
“There is a distinction between potential life and actual life,” says Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of the Islamic Law Council of North America in Orange County, Calif. “It is obligatory to pursue this research, which has great potential to relieve human disease and suffering,” adds Dr. Siddiqi.
|
