Stem Cell
Research and the Qur’anic View
By Bashir Ahmad, MD
Wildwood, MO
Stem cell research has become a
controversial issue. Pope John Paul 11 in his
1995 encyclical, the gospel of life, wrote, “Human
embryo obtained in vitro are human beings and
are subjects with rights, their dignity, right
to life must be respected, from the first moment
of their existence. It is immoral to produce human
embryo destined to be exploited as disposable
biological material.”
(McCloskey, www.americancatholic.org/stemcell.asp)
Evidently, Pope John Paul 11 has completely ruled
out any stem cell research even if it presents
the prospect of cure for serious diseases. On
the other hand, Dr Harold Varmus, Director, National
Institute of Health, in his statement before the
Congressional Committee, advocated research by
using stem cells. He explained to the committee
the background of stem cell research stating that
stem cells are derived from ovum fertilized with
sperm or by somatic nuclear transfer and then
grown in culture. These cells have the capacity
to divide indefinitely and form cells of three
major tissue types – Endoderm, which form
the lining of the gut, Mesoderm, which gives rise
to bone and blood, and Ectoderm, which gives rise
to epidermal tissue and the nervous tissue.
After a few days of development, the early embryo
forms a hollow ball called a blastocyst. The clustered
cells within the ball are called the inner cell
mass. The cells of the inner mass are called pluripotent
stem cells. Pluripotent cells, unlike totipotent
cells will not produce human beings because they
do not have the potential to form a human being
lacking the capacity to give rise to the cells
of a placenta or other extra embryonic tissues
necessary for implantation of the embryo, nor
can they support fetal development in the uterus.
During fetal development, pluripotent cells lack
the capacity to develop into human fetus but have
the capacity to develop into tissue of other human
organs.
Embryo up to 16 cells stage are called totipotent
cells. Each cell of this early embryo has the
potential to develop into a human being. (www.stemcell.nih.gov/policy/statement/120298.asp.)
Thomas A. Shannon, Professor of Religion and Social
Ethics in the Department of Humanities and Arts
at Worchester Polytechnic Institute, writing under
the title “Stem cell research – How
Catholic guides us”, has made contradictory
statements about the stem cells in his article.
On pager 2 he writes “In the very early
embryo these cells are totipotent – that
is, they have the potency to become any kind of
body cell. In adult stem cells, the cells are
pluripotent – they have the capacity to
become a variety of cells, but not all.”
This is exactly what Dr Varmus said in his statement
to the congressional committee as mentioned earlier
that the earliest embryo, up to 16 cell stage,
are totipotent stem cells, totally potent.
But on page 4 Professor Shannon attempts to confuse
the reader by using the term blastocyst, which
is conglomeration of cells which have passed the
stage of totipotent to the stage of pluripotent
stem cells which lack the capacity to produce
a fetus. He writes, “---In fact all the
cells of the blastocyst can be separated and each
has the capacity to become a whole human being.”
If the cells of the blastocyst or the pluripotent
cells are lacking in their capacity to develop
into whole human beings, as he has written on
page 2, then there should not be any ethical objection
to turn them into tissues of various human organs
for the treatment of various diseases. (www.americancatholic.org/newsletteres/cu/ac0102.asp)
Dr Robert Weinberg, Professor of Biology at MIT
has put forward a contested theory according to
which he envisages a program, called epithelial
mesenchymal transition or EMT, which although
the embryonic cells move to the different parts
of the body where they set up camps and build
different types of tissues. According to Dr Weinberg,
these programs are turned off after embryonic
development but they are sometimes briefly turned
on in wound healing to build new tissue.
Cancer cells opportunistically turn on these programs
and thereby acquire the traits that permit them
to disseminate throughout the body. To date, cancer
stem cells have been isolated from a small number
of tumor types. More research is needed to elucidate
whether stem cells initiate metastases and where
and how they acquire their renewal capacities.
A number of laboratories have identified more
than a dozen metastatic suppressor genes, which
prevent micro metastases from colonizing but do
not affect primary tumors.
In metastatic cells, these genes – including
NM23,KISSI,MKK4 and RhoGD12 - are either defective
or inactive. (Laurie Tarkan. Scientists begin
to grasp the stealthy spread of cancer. New York
Times, August 15, 2006. www.lexisnexis.comm/universe/print.doc)
Biologist, Dr David T. Skadden of Harvard Medical
School and Dr Norman E.Sharpless of the University
of North Carolina, have uncovered a gene which
is a link between life span and cancer that switches
off stem cells as a person ages. With age this
gene reduces the ability of stem cells to proliferate.
This gene is named D161NK4a; it plays a central
role in the body’s defenses against cancer,
and it produces two different proteins that interact
with two principal systems for deciding whether
a cell will be allowed to divide or not.
One of the proteins has also been noted to increase
substantially with age. The cells of a 70-year-old
produce 10 times as much INK4 protein as those
of a 20-year-old.
But increasing the amount of INK4 as a person
ages will thrust the stem cells into senescence
that they can divide again. The evolutionary purpose
evidently averts the risk that a damaged stem
cell might evade control and proliferate into
cancer.
It is hoped that a drug would be manufactured
that could promote stem cell proliferation without
greatly increasing the risk of cancer. If that
could be done, then the degenerative diseases
of aging, which are caused by actively shutting
down of stem cells that renew the body’s
various tissues and are not just a passive disintegration
under daily wear and tear, can be invigorated.
(Nicolas Wade. Gene is called a deep link between
life span and cancer. New York Times September
7, 2006).
Pluripotent cells are the generation of cells
and tissues that could be used for transplantation.
Many diseases and disorders result from disruption
of cellular function or destruction of the tissue
of the body. Today donated organs and tissues
are often used to replace the function of ailing
or destroyed tissues. Unfortunately, the number
of people suffering from these disorders far outstrips
the number of organs available for transplantation.
Pluripotent stem cells stimulated to develop into
specialized cells offer the opportunity to treat
a myriad of diseases, such as Parkinson’s
disease, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord
injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, osteoarthritis
and rheumatoid arthritis.
(Dr Varmus. www.stemcells.nih.gov/policy/statements/120298.asp)
One may humbly argue that the fertilized ova under
discussion are not going to be transplanted into
the uterus, they are marked for destruction. The
belief that life starts at the fertilization of
the ovum is debatable. The progress of a fertilized
ovum from the state of totipotent to pluripotent
stem cells induces a loss of power to turn it
into a fetal stage. However, pluripotent stem
cells can be converted into different types of
tissue to treat diseases and to bring health and
happiness to millions of patients.
HISTORY OF PUNISHING SCIENTIST
This is not the only time that a Pope has created
a barrier in the progress of science by condemning
stem cell research. In the past Pope UrbanV111
punished Galileo. (Galileo 1564-1643).
In 1979, Pope John Paul 11 declared that the Roman
Catholic Church had been mistaken in condemning
Galileo. He instructed a church commission to
study Galileo’s case. In 1983 the commission
concluded that Galileo should not have been condemned.
In 1984, on the commission’s recommendation,
the church published all documents related to
Galileo’s trial. In 1992, Pope John Paul
11 publicly endorsed the commission’s findings
that the church had made a mistake in condemning
Galileo. (The World Book Encyclopedia 2003. Page
12.)
Is the Pope and the Catholic Church repeating
it’s fallibility in the case of stem cell
research and its potential for curing serious
diseases?
THE BIBLICAL VERSION OF HUMAN CREATION
In the Bible God has been depicted as a sculptor,
who fashioned human beings out of clay and breathed
into its nose to give it life.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust
of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became a living soul.”
Genesis 2/7
THE QUR’ANIC VERSION OF HUMAN CREATION
The Qur’an gives a very detailed description
of human creation. It mentions copulation, emission
of semen, fertilization and implantation of the
ovum into the uterus leading to the development
of the fetus and a new born baby.
“-------When he consorts with her, she bears
a light burden and goes about with it. When she
grows heavy, they both pray to Allah, their Lord:
If thou bestow on us a healthy child, we will
surely be grateful. ----“ Qur’an AL-A’RAF
7/189
In the Sura 23/23 Nufta has been interpreted as
the sperm or spermatozoon.
“We placed him as a droop of sperm in a
safe depository” Qur’an 23/13
DEVELOPMENT OF FETUS
“O people, if you are in doubt concerning
being raised up again, then consider that we created
you from dust, then from the sperm drop, then
from clotted blood, then from a lump of flesh,
formed and unformed. We cause which We will to
stay in the wombs for an appointed term, then
we bring you forth as babies,-------“ Qur’an
22/5
The Qur’an is strongly against cloning and
refers to it as a satanic deed, Satan is referred
as saying: “And I will lead them astray,
and will excite in them vain desires, and will
incite them to cut off the ears of cattle and
to alter Allah’s creation----“ Qur’an
4/11
This Qur’anic verse makes a most astounding,
dramatic and revolutionary statement, that changes
will be made in the future in the Creation of
Allah, through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering
is hardly a few decades old yet the Holy Qur’an
had prophesied about it 1500 years ago. The Qur’an
is not against the therapeutic use of stem cell
research’s positive outcome.
The Qur’anic description of fertilization
of ovum with semen, its embedment in the uterus
leading to fetal development, has been affirmed
and authenticated by Professor Keith Moore, one
of the world’s foremost embryologists whose
text book on embryology is running into its seventh
edition. In his paper “Highlights of Human
Embryology in the Qur’an and Hadith”,
he has quoted numerous Qur’anic verses as
well Ahadees and emphatically stated that they
are absolutely correct. Amazingly he also stated
that some of the facts described in the Qur’an
have only recently been discovered by the embryologists.
Ref. Moore. Highlights of Human Embryology in
the Qur’an and Hadith.
