OVER the past few days, a very real row has developed between the Catholic Church hierarchy in Scotland and scientists on the issues of creating animal-human embryos.
However, in all this discussion, it should be remembered that the moral status of any being cannot just be reduced to science. Indeed, from a purely scientific perspective, human beings, whether at the embryonic or adult stage, are just piles of cell
s of different sizes – piles of cells made up of more than 70 per cent water which are all destined, with time, to become piles of dusts or ashes. Thus, the moral status of any living being, whether it is an animal-human embryo or a purely human adult, will depend on a person's world view (and we all have one), based upon non-scientific aspects such as philosophy, religion or the manner in which we understand what it means to be human.
Because of these different perspectives and world views, which cannot just be reduced to science, it will be very difficult to obtain a final answer concerning the moral status of animal-human embryos. This would, indeed, be the case no matter how many in the scientific establishment, and representatives (but not members) of medical charities, complain about restrictions in this important field of research.
The full article contains 222 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
