Tentative OK to stem cell study

VATICAN CITY -- A recent study showing that stem cells can be drawn from amniotic fluid without harming the pregnant woman or her fetus has received tentative backing from a senior Vatican official.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the Vatican's health minister, said the study's results, if proven true, represent an ethical breakthrough. Speaking to Vatican Radio Jan. 8, Barragan gave the procedure his backing on the grounds that, unlike traditional methods used to extract stem cells, the use of amniotic fluid did not result in the destruction of embryos.

In an interview published in La Stampa of Turin, Barragan called the study "a discovery to rejoice over and the breakthrough we've been waiting for."

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