New stem cell education video by Kansas bishops offers truth, clarity

Myths discredited in ‘The Science of Stem Cells: Finding Cures and Protecting Life’

Special to the Register

The debate about embryonic stem cell research and the cloning of human life is front and center in Washington, D.C. Now the stem cell debate is about to break out of the shadows in the Kansas legislature as well.

The powerful one-two lobbying punch of the big biotechnology industry and the University of Kansas School of Medicine is exerting tremendous pressure on state lawmakers to approve practices in Kansas laboratories that encourage the artificial creation and destruction of living human embryos with taxpayer money. The goal, they say, is finding cures for those suffering from various diseases and conditions.

But a growing number of patient advocates, scientists and others are joining the Catholic Church in an effort to expose the myths and misinformation of this proposal. A new short documentary commissioned and released by the four Catholic bishops of Kansas entitled “The Science of Stem Cells: Finding Cures and Protecting Life” figures to play a key role in educating the public about what is involved.

“This video offers an excellent, easy-to-understand overview of the key issues connected to the stem cell debate,” explains Mike Farmer, Director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the bishops in Kansas. “I dare say, when people see this their eyes are going to be opened wide to information they have probably never heard before—and that’s why it is so important to view.”

The 12 ½ minute video features national experts exploring facts largely avoided or misrepresented in the secular media, including:

• The effectiveness of adult stem cells—different from human embryonic stem cells and morally acceptable -- already being used to help thousands of people with diseases and conditions,

• A graphic explanation of human cloning, something certain researchers in Kansas want to conduct in tax-funded laboratories,

• Why a coalition of feminists from all across the religious and political spectrum oppose cloning because it requires the harvesting of human eggs, a practice potentially harmful and exploitative to young women,

• How a paralyzed man who originally supported embryo destructive research later discovered it’s unlikely to produce cures or treatments in the near future—if ever,

• The ethical and moral quagmire of using live human embryos for unproven and ineffective experimentation.

Funded with a grant from the Kansas Knights of Columbus, the video was produced by the Kansas City-based non-profit group called SaintMax Worldwide, Inc., and can be viewed online at www.saintmaxworldwide.org, or www.dcdiocese.org. It is also being distributed to Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Dodge City and throughout Kansas.

“It’s crucial for people to educate themselves on this issue and the video is a great start,” says Farmer. “People are going to discover that contrary to public perception, the Catholic Church is very much in favor of finding cures and treatments for suffering people, a continuation of our healing heritage going back centuries. They’re also going to find out that we can heal people without using and destroying other human lives.”

Farmer is also calling upon Catholics across then state to contact their local legislators in calling for a ban on human cloning and embryo-destructive research in Kansas. Details about various legislative proposals can be found on the Internet at www.kscathconf.org.