Singapore - Singapore's hopes of becoming a biomedical hub have hit an ethical snag with a group Roman Catholic doctors staging a prayer vigil against the use of human embryos in research.
The Catholic Medical Guild of Singapore, made up of some 300 doctors, kicked off 10 days of prayer on Wednesday against embryonic stem cell research.
"We are praying that embryonic stem cell research will be discontinued, not just in Singapore but throughout the world," guild president Dr John Hui told Reuters on Thursday. "We were human at the point of inception... and we believe that absolute respect should be accorded to the human embryo from the very beginning of life."
Singapore has poured at least S$3 billion ($1.7 billion US) into boosting research and seeding start-ups in the city state's fledgling life sciences industry but has no regulations so far. The government also has a stake in Australia-based company ES Cell International, which is emerging as a major player in the production and supply of embryonic stem cells for research.
Singapore's Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) is expected to present legal and ethical guidelines to the government by the end of the year after gathering public feedback and studying regulations adopted around the globe. "At the moment there are no official national guidelines," Professor Lim Pin, chairman of the BAC, told Reuters. "Eventually a balanced position will be taken."
Hui said the guild has presented its objections to the BAC.
"We don't engage in protests," he said. "We hope and pray they will seriously take a stand that will be on the side of the embryo."
However, Hui said the guild was not opposed to the use of adult stem cells in research, which can be gathered non-destructively.
In January, Britain became the first country to allow the use of human embryos in stem cell research and the reproduction of human stem cells -- so-called therapeutic cloning - even as other nations debate the ethics surrounding such research.
Singapore has attracted many multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers to its shores and hopes to be equally successful as a research hub.
Pro-Life Infonet
16. august 2001