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by Dina Rashed CHICAGO (Islam Online) - Is cloning permissible in Islam? What is stem cell research? Embryo stem cell and adult stem cell, is it acceptable? What are the limits on organ transplants? These are some of the questions that will be answered at the annual convention of the Islamic Medical Association to be held August 30th through September 3rd, in Chicago. The IMA conference will be held virtually simultaneously with the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) convention in Chicago. ISNA’s convention, which Islam Online will cover, begins September 1st and lasts through September 4th. The IMA sessions, starting on Friday September 1st, will discuss an array of medical subjects and issues. One of the most important sessions will be geared towards discussing Islamic medical ethics in the areas of organ transplant and biomedicine. Dr. Shahid Athar, an internal medicine specialist and scholar who writes extensively on issues of medical ethics, said he would discuss, with other Muslim scientists, the latest in the relation between biomedicine and ethics, and recent research within the fields of stem cell and cloning. Stem cell research has been a hot issue that has recently raised tremendous controversy among scientists on one side, and religious and pro-life groups on the other. It became an extremely active area of medical research after early studies in mice suggested the so-called "master cells" could restore damaged nerves, correct some brain diseases, strengthen ailing hearts and, perhaps, even cure diabetes. Addressing a gathering of more than 2000 scientists, researchers, bio-ethicists, clergymen and Catholics on Tuesday, Pope John Paul said, “Every medical procedure performed on the human person is subject to limits; not just the limits of what is technically possible, but also limits determined by respect for human nature itself.” Stem cells are biological building blocks. They are the ancestral cells for all the body's tissue. Stem cells differentiate, or evolve, into the heart, lung, skin and all the other organs in the body. There are three basic types of stem cells:
Some recent studies in mice have show that adult stem cells are more flexible than previously believed. Blood stem cells, for instance, have been converted into nerve, muscle and bone cells. Pro-life supporters believe that the promise of this adult stem cell research makes the embryonic stem cell studies unnecessary. Less than two weeks ago, the British government eased the ban on embryonic cell research, and intended to introduce legislation concerning regulation of the research. If passed through Parliament in the coming fall, the UK will be the first country to authorize the human cloning for any reason. "We do not need human cloning," said Life, an anti-abortion British group in its statement. "We are on the brink of a major revolution in medicine using adult stem cells." "It is neo-cannibalism," the group added, calling such cloning a way to exploit "human beings at the most vulnerable stage of their lives." The American National Institute of Health on August 23rd released guidelines for scientists which allow them to get federal funding for such research. The research will use surplus embryos from fertility banks that would have been discarded. |
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