Madam, - The draft treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe contains the following statement. "Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected". If human dignity is inviolable surely the human embryo is entitled to respect and protection?
There are two compelling arguments against the use of human embryonic stem cells for therapeutic purposes. Firstly, obtaining such cells necessarily involves the death of the embryo. Can this be morally licit? The answer has to be an emphatic "no".
Our Constitution guarantees in its laws to defend and vindicate unborn human life, without specifying where that human life originated.
If this be so, is there not a constitutional constraint on our Government in providing funding for embryonic human stem cell research, wherever such research may be conducted?
Secondly, there is increasing scientific evidence that adult stem cells may be as effective as embryonic stem cells, without having the same ethical implications.
It is heartening to note that two of our members of the European Parliament, Dana Rosemary Scallon, MEP and Sean Ó Neachtain, MEP are urging the Government not to support the proposal of the European Commission to fund research on human embryos.
The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, TD, must be persuaded to vote against such research funding at the Council of Ministers' meeting on November 27th. - Yours, etc.,
EAMON O'DWYER, Professor emeritus of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Lower Taylors Hill, Galway.