There is little agreement between the various Jewish religious movements on most issues, but on one there seems to be consensus: that it is and should be permissible to use human embryonic stem cells for medical research and, potentially, to help cure human diseases.
So said Karen Lieberman — attorney, Jewish educator and doctoral candidate at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies — at a forum held Tuesday evening on “Perspectives on Stem Cell Research: The Promise and the Challenges.” The event was sponsored by the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations.
Stem cells, according to a Web site on the topic created by the National Institutes of Health, are cells that have not differentiated into specialized tissue cells — muscle, blood, nerve, gland, etc. — but have the potential to become so and can be so induced. Moreover, such cells can be kept alive in a culture for indefinite periods of time.
Adults have such cells within their specialized tissues; but apparently the cells of this type in embryos have greater potential to become differentiated into wide variety of tissue cells. That makes them useful for medical research and possibly for treatments of diseases like diabetes, leukemia and Parkinson’s.
However, the process of removing such cells from an early stage human embryo, typically four or five days old, destroys the embryo. This has led such organizations as Wisconsin Right to Life to oppose it, as they regard human life as beginning at conception.
Speaking to an audience of about 110 at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, Lieberman said that in Judaism an embryo is not considered to be a human being from the moment of conception, as many Christian denominations and groups contend.
Instead, Judaism considers an embryo to be “mere water” for the first 40 days. Even after that, a fetus in the uterus is considered to be “a limb of the mother” rather than an independent person.
That the embryos used to provide stem cells aren’t even in a uterus also makes a difference, Lieberman said. Typically, such embryos are leftovers from in-vitro fertilization procedures done for infertile couples. Such procedures produce more embryos than a couple can use or wants; the remainders are usually either frozen or destroyed.
“At this point, what is being destroyed is a thing, not a person,” said Lieberman.
Therefore, Judaism would consider the use of these embryos for medical research “permissible, and possibly obligatory.”
However, Lieberman added that some Jewish ethical thinkers and movements might add some caveats to this in order to “protect against abuse” and make sure the stem cells “are obtained and used in permissible ways.”
She said there is concern about motivations being less for healing than for “enhancement” of human abilities, or for “economic gain at the expense of the ill or disabled.”
But within such limitations, “Judaism supports and encourages this important work,” Lieberman said.
Taking a stand
Lieberman was one of four speakers at the forum. Keynoter Andrew Cohn, government and public relations manager of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, described how researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been pioneers in embryonic stem cell research.
He also provided data from a poll taken last May showing that a majority of Wisconsinites supports human embryonic stem cell research, with 69 percent in favor, 19 percent opposed and 12 percent undecided.
However, Wisconsin Right to Life “is one of the most powerful interest groups in the state,” Cohn said. It has successfully lobbied for bills in the state legislature to restrict such research, and will continue to do so despite Gov. Jim Doyle’s vetoes or promised vetoes of such measures, he said.
Ed Fallone, president of Wisconsin Stem Cell Now, blasted opponents of this work for offering “misinformation and confusion” and “false choices.”
He said that the controversy has “nothing to do with abortion,” pointing out that such “proven pro-lifers” as former First Lady Nancy Reagan and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are supporters of human embryonic stem cell research.
Judy Eglash, past president of the Milwaukee chapter of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, described how the organization “chose to take a leadership role in educating elected officials” around the country about the need for and potential of stem cell research.
She also said that Hadassah Medical Organization researchers in Israel were the second group in the world to develop human embryonic stem cell lines for research; and that there now exists a Hadassah Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center in Israel.
MJCCR vice president Joel Pittelman, who was moderator of the event, said that the MJCCR “has been asked to take a position” on this issue. It therefore sponsored the forum as “part of the process of educating the [MJCCR] board and the community” on this issue.
Paula Simon, MJCCR executive director, told The Chronicle that the council’s board will consider its position at its meeting in January.
She also said that no representative of Wisconsin Right to Life or other opposition group had been invited to the forum because “we were only doing the Jewish perspective,” and she also doesn’t know of any Jewish groups opposed to human embryonic stem cell research.
The forum was supported by the Dr. Paul & Ann Guten Health and Ethics Fund of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun; and was co-sponsored by 19 other local synagogues and Jewish organizations. MORE STORIES
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