EUROPE/ITALY - “We cannot play with life: science has its times which must be respected”: Doctor Campisi speaker at “Stem Cells Science and Conscience” tells Fides.

Friday, 5 March 2004

Rome (Fides Service) - Fides spoke with one of the speakers at the Conference “Stem Cells Science and Conscience” to be held in Rome, Doctor Silvana Campisi, head of the Operational Unit of Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome.
“My professional life has always been connected with stem cells. A few years ago this was a subject for researchers only and I was one of those engaged in research on the cells. Today we are seeing an important step forwards: stem cells and I, like other researchers, have left our laboratories for hospital structures, that is, the field of therapeutic application. Today the question of stem cells is widely discussed but not widely understood and the intention of this Conference is to increase awareness in order to tackle the problem.
Stem cells cannot be regarded only from the point of view of science, inevitably one enters the field of bio-ethics. People like myself working in this field of research must make an examination of conscience, personal and collective and one’s beliefs become an important part of our decisions. I chose to take a course in bio-ethics because the subject involves our very being. In the past stem cells were shut up in laboratories and they aroused little interest. They were something strange, a bit like little animals to be observed and no more. But all of a sudden they are arousing the interest of a lot of people. Both the economic component and the quality of the information diffused in this regard has led to much confusion between cloning, stem cells and embryos. Stem cells were seen as a panacea for all our problems. It must be clear that cloning, including therapeutic cloning, is one thing and stem cells are another.
So what are stem cells? They are cells which re-produce themselves and which can differentiate themselves in other cells.
It should be said first of all that stem cells are found not only in the embryo, but also in bone marrow, peripheral blood, the umbilical cord, body tissues (adult stem cells). Among these sources we can distinguish totally-powerful cells and multi-powerful cells. The former are found in the first days of life of the embryo and only in this case can they directly give life to another being.
We must make a distinction with regard to the use we intend to make of stem cells. We cannot play with life, we cannot experiment with human persons in test tubes. For therapeutic purposes we can find other cells in our organism as effective as those of the embryo.
My contribution to this Conference is to affirm that from the therapeutic point of view, adults cells can be equally activated, processed and manipulated to become part of tissue to implant in an organism. For example, the cornea is rich in adult stem cells which are purified, put in culture with suitable factors of growth already studied for years in the laboratory and produce a new cornea which is implanted on the eye of the person who donated his or her own cells and so there is no danger of rejection.
Another major resource is offered by umbilical cord cells usually thrown away. These cells are extraordinary because they are inserted in the maternal organism and are not rejected and they take more easily in transplants to other people than other more mature cells. Unfortunately the process of collecting these cells has been neglected due to lack of qualified personnel and time in delivery rooms.
New findings are not everyday happenings in the field of stem cells. The passages are not so simple and so it is true that science is making progress but this does not mean that we must push stem cells into the news. Science has its times and they demand absolute respect. If we hurry science along its paths simply to produce news or for economic interests, all we will do it to create monsters.


(AP) (5/3/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe: 57; Parole:720)


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