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25 / 11 / 2008 - Apologist for embryo research in UCC views are `morally repugnant`
Youth Defence has said that the emergence of Baroness Warnock as an apologist for UCC’s decision to begin embryo research, is indicative of the mindset of supporters of experimentation on human life. Spokesman Cormac de Faoite, who attended a debate on embryo research in UCC last night, said the expressed views of the Baroness on many issues, from euthanasia to premature babies, were “morally repugnant” and completely out of touch with the majority of Irish people.
“Baroness Warnock is described as an expert on medical ethics,” said Mr de Faoite. “But she has no medical or scientific expertise, and willfully ignores the fact that research on human embryos is not only grossly immoral but has utterly failed to provide any cures.”
Speaking at the debate on stem-cell research at UCC last night, Baroness Mary Warnock said scientists had an absolute duty to "proceed on this path of human compassion". However critics pointed out that she had “absolutely no compassion for unborn children.” Spokeswoman for Youth Defence, Carolyn Johnston, said that the Baroness had previously said that resuscitating premature babies was a waste of resources; that people with dementia may have a duty to die; and, in relation to the human embryo, that you couldn’t respect something that you would pour down the sink. “This woman has utterly extreme views,” said Ms Johnston. “She declares the sick, the old and the vulnerable useless and wants to take their right to life away at a whim.”
Ms Warnock chaired a landmark government committee in the 1980s that established British law on fertility treatment and embryo research. But as Cormac de Faoite pointed out, since that time, despite the destruction of countless human embryonic lives, embryo research have produced no cures. “We know that ethical adult stem cell research has produced successful treatments for 73 conditions – some of them life threatening,” said Mr de Faoite, “why does UCC not want to become a centre of excellence for that research.”
He added that the debate underlined the urgent need for Youth Defence’s new campaign against embryo research, and confirmed that an intensive student outreach on UCC campus would be an important part of that campaign. “People don’t fully understand the issues, ie the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells,” he said. “But they will when we are finished.”
Source : Youth Defence
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“Baroness Warnock is described as an expert on medical ethics,” said Mr de Faoite. “But she has no medical or scientific expertise, and willfully ignores the fact that research on human embryos is not only grossly immoral but has utterly failed to provide any cures.”
Speaking at the debate on stem-cell research at UCC last night, Baroness Mary Warnock said scientists had an absolute duty to "proceed on this path of human compassion". However critics pointed out that she had “absolutely no compassion for unborn children.” Spokeswoman for Youth Defence, Carolyn Johnston, said that the Baroness had previously said that resuscitating premature babies was a waste of resources; that people with dementia may have a duty to die; and, in relation to the human embryo, that you couldn’t respect something that you would pour down the sink. “This woman has utterly extreme views,” said Ms Johnston. “She declares the sick, the old and the vulnerable useless and wants to take their right to life away at a whim.”
Ms Warnock chaired a landmark government committee in the 1980s that established British law on fertility treatment and embryo research. But as Cormac de Faoite pointed out, since that time, despite the destruction of countless human embryonic lives, embryo research have produced no cures. “We know that ethical adult stem cell research has produced successful treatments for 73 conditions – some of them life threatening,” said Mr de Faoite, “why does UCC not want to become a centre of excellence for that research.”
He added that the debate underlined the urgent need for Youth Defence’s new campaign against embryo research, and confirmed that an intensive student outreach on UCC campus would be an important part of that campaign. “People don’t fully understand the issues, ie the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells,” he said. “But they will when we are finished.”
Source : Youth Defence