Interventions on the genome; Gene therapy; Regenerative therapy

Interventions on the genome
"79....strictly therapeutic interventions that aim to treat diseases resulting from genetic or chromosomal anomalies must be distinguished from manipulation that alters the human genetic patrimony."

Gene therapy
"80....[Assuming informed consent and that there is NOT excessive/disproportionate risk,] 'procedures used on somatic cells for strictly therapeutic purposes are in principal morally licit' 163 inasmuch as they aim to correct a genetic defect or cure a disease....Germ line cell therapy, in contrast, at the present state of the research is morally illicit, inasmuch as it is not yet possible to prevent the spread to the progeny of possible harm resulting from the intervention" [See 165, n. 26]."  Manipulation for non-therapeutic ends is illicit.



Regenerative therapy
"81....[Stem cell uses are] "gravely illicit when they involve the procurement of stem cells from a living human embryo, because this inevitably causes its destruction.169  Also illicit is the harvesting of fetal stem cells from a procured abortion, if there is a direct relation between the act of abortion and the use of the stem cells...."

"82. The production of embryonic stem cells is often connected with attempts at human cloning.... Reproductive human cloning is morally illicit....So-called therapeutic cloning would be even more serious from the ethical point of view...."

"83. The manipulation of animal or plant cells for pharmaceutical purposes raises no moral question, as long as it shows respect for nature...."

[While #167 may seem to infer a favorable judgment on the use of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Section 30 of Dignitas Personae appears to preclude their use.  "One of the top researchers in the field of stem cells has said that iPS (induced pluripotent) stem cells, the 'embryo-like' cells hailed by many as the answer to the ethical problems presented by embryonic stem cells, are 'probably' actually already embryos and have already, with the right conditions and treatment in the lab, developed into 'complete animals' in experiments.... LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Dr. Dianne Irving, a former bench biochemist researcher with the National Institutes of Health in the US, who confirmed Dr. Gurdon’s assertion, saying, 'Some iPS cell are potentially embryos'....Given the ability of cells to be reverted to the embryonic stage, she said, 'any human cell can be used for reproductive purposes,' so pro-life people must start making very careful distinctions about what type of cell is being created and used and the methods used to obtain them...." (LifeSiteNews, 4/23/13)]