ACT's act

The recent news that there may be an ethical way to produce embryonic stem cells should give us all pause - to consider its source. The news indicates that when an Embryo reaches 8 cells, a single cell is 'peeled' off, and used to create embryonic stem cells, while the Embryo is left and can be implanted into a Mother's womb. Disregarding the fact that most of these Embryos are never implanted into anyone's womb, and that the in Vitro fertilization and genetic screening is against Catholic Church teaching, there really is still an unanswered question: What really happens to this single 'peeled' off cell from the Embryonic Blastocyst?

If this single cell were left alone, would it develop into an Embryo, exactly like the first Embryo which supposedly will be implanted into a Mother’s womb? Isn't this just a variation on what happens with Identical twins, where the cells split, and two individuals who have identical DNA are born 9 moths later? So are we creating a twin, only to destroy him, so that we can claim that we did not kill the first twin?

That's why I wrote to consider the source of the story - Dr. Robert Lanza from Advanced Cell Technology. He has a history of questioning and misrepresenting Church teachings on Stem Cells. As the Editors at National Review stated today, ACT is "a commercial firm with a publicity apparatus" whose goal "appears to be devising a flimsy excuse to get around restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research." The end game here - to get the Government to pay for immoral research on Human Embryos.