Embryonic Stem Cell Research flourishes in Iran

[RamboLiberal]

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While at the Royan, I spoke with one of the imams who sits on their ethics committee. He explained that every research project proposed must be justified to and vetted by his committee to ensure that it does not conflict with Islamic teaching. Thus, while issues such as abortion are still restricted in Iran (it is allowed only when the mother's life is in danger), research on human embryos is encouraged.

I was certainly taken aback when he quite rightly pointed out that the only thing produced in embryonic stem cell research is a clump of cells, which is far from what could be defined as a human fetus.

The fundamental question here, as it is in the rest of the world, is: What defines life? Many, but by no means all, Christians believe that human life begins at the moment of fertilization -- a notion not shared in Islam or Judaism. The Christian argument is based on the idea that the fertilized egg contains everything that is needed to replicate and grow and that this is sufficient. But is the "potential" of becoming a human being really enough?

This is more than just a metaphysical issue. From a purely scientific perspective, an embryo just a few days old is no more than a bundle of homogeneous cells in the same membrane that do not function in a coordinated way to regulate and preserve a single life. So while each individual cell is "alive", it only becomes part of a human organism when there is substantial cell differentiation and coordination, which occurs around two weeks after fertilization. Therefore a more sensible definition of the beginning of life is that it takes place gradually during the fetus's development, long after the embryonic stem cells stage where there is only a "potential" for life.

According to Islamic teaching, I discovered, the fetus becomes a full human being only when it is "ensouled". This takes place anywhere between 40 and 120 days after conception, depending on various interpretations of the Qur'an. So the research at Royan is not seen as playing God, since it takes place long before the soul has entered the body of the unborn fetus.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/09/islamic_science_makes_a_comeba.html

But here because of the fundies we throw them in the trash or produce a very few "snowflake babies" instead of researching how they could help cure our illnesses!

[Alameda]

1. Actually I have heard that the earliest is 90 days, not 40.