Concentrate on adult stem-cell research

By Peter Hafnerp
Coulee News
August 17, 2006

Human life begins at conception and continues through the embryonic and fetal stages, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. We were all embryos once.

The preamble to our Declaration of Independence states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Note the source of these human rights. These rights do not ultimately come from "this-worldly principles of proper political interaction rooted in man's rational nature" as your guest's view from Ayn Rand Institute states (July 21 edition). These rights come ultimately from man's Creator.

Note, too, the order of these rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. One human being's liberty must not trump another's life. We are not free to do anything that is possible to do, if our actions take human life. Embryos are human life at an early stage. We are not at liberty to destroy them, even for research.

Let's push adult stem-cell research. Adult stem cells can be found in almost any part of the human body: skin, fat, bone marrow and a newborn's cord, blood or placenta. No one has to die to obtain adult stem cells and because the cells come from an individual's own body, they are not rejected. Adult stem cells can be kept growing almost indefinitely in a culture.

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