A person – or just a collection of cells?
Both the organisational unity of the embryo and the goal-directed character of its activities indicate the presence of a new, distinct individual life.
This is why embryologists regard the embryo as being a single, multicellular organism as opposed to just a random assortment of cells, or a colony of unicellular organisms.
This was also publicly confirmed in the findings of the Australian senate committee which concluded that from the moment of fertilisation the embryo is “a genetically new human life organised as a distinct entity and orientated towards development.”
No one treats a bit of skin, or a droplet of blood, which are true aggregates of cells, with respect, so why would anyone treat an embryo “with respect,” as Dr Madden suggests, unless it was indeed a new individual human life, and not just “human cells.”
The “enormous benefits in the future,” which Dr Madden envisions, was precisely the argument employed in Britain during the lead-up to the passing of HFE Act which legalised human embryo experimentation.
Since that time over three million embryos have been destroyed and not a single cure or any other significant benefit has resulted.
Michael O’Driscoll
Menloe House,
Blackrock,
Cork.
