PLC accuses UCC of “gross misrepresentation” over its embryo research stance
28th October 2008
Responding to today's decision of the UCC Governing Body to allow human embryonic research take place on campus, Dr Audrey Dillon of the Pro-Life Campaign said:
It's a gross misrepresentation for UCC to claim it has found an ‘ethical solution' to embryo research that does not involve destroying human life. Under the UCC proposal human embryos are destroyed somewhere else. The university then imports the stem cells to use in their research, hypocritically denying their complicity in the killing that produced them.
Everyone wants to see cures for chronic diseases and disabilities but we cannot ethically destroy one human life to prolong another. Instead, we must look for cures we can all live with. A human embryo is not a potential life, it is a human life with potential.
From a scientific standpoint, UCC's proposal might have appeared “cutting edge” back in 2004 but this is completely overtaken by recent much publicised breakthroughs in the ethically non-controversial field of adult stem cell research. The onset of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) offers the prospect of a win-win solution, where science and ethics can successfully coexist. Shamefully, UCC has chosen to ignore these possibilities and opted for a socially divisive stance. It has absolutely no authority to speak for the Irish people on such sensitive matters. Clearly, it is the preserve of the legislature and electorate to decide these issues.