Conservatives Shocked as US Plans to Increase Stem Cell Research Funding

The US have alarmed conservative Christians with news from Washington that the US Senate have introduced a bill that will increase funding for research into human embryonic stem cells.

The news follows that from the British government last week announcing that they have issued its second human cloning license to the "Father" of Dolly the sheep – the first cloned mammal in the world. That news combined with the latest American release has re-opened the fierce debate among scientists, pro-lifers and conservative Christians as to the ethics of human cloning.

The human embryonic stem cell research team is a branch of the medical enquiries in the US that president George Bush reluctantly allowed, but has also tightly restricted.

Republican Orrin Hatch, the bill’s chief Senate sponsor commented that the legislation would "improve the ability of our scientists to unleash the promise of stem cell research by increasing both the quantity and quality of stem cell lines available for federally-funded research."

In 2001, President Bush stated that he would allow the American government to fund research, however he limited the number of human embryonic stem cell lines to just 60; therefore avoiding the destruction of any additional human embryos.

In Britain, the news has come as an increasing worry for pro-lifers and evangelical Christians. Already, in Britain Professor Ian Wilmut and the other two scientists are planning to perform the cloning of human embryos so that stem cells can be yielded to investigate a cure for muscle-wasting illnesses. However, alarmingly the cloned human embryos will be destroyed afterwards.

Christian social concern charity CARE last week highly criticised the decision to grant a new licence to clone. CARE’s Head of Public Policy Roger Smith, said, "Yet again the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has shown complete disregard for the ethical dynamics of scientific research."

Smith added, "We have to remember that the clone is a human being in itself and that there is absolutely no technological distinction between reproductive and so-called ‘therapeutic’ cloning."

The latest decision will no doubt further anger CARE and continue to fan the fiery debate in the issue.

In a direct appeal to the UK public, the British pro-life group LIFE stated, "We repeat our call to the British public that human cloning for any purpose is unethical, unnecessary, and dangerous. Human beings must never be used as a means to an end. To create a tiny new individual human being solely for the purposes of his or her own destruction is not something which we, living in a society which refers to itself as civilised, can justify."