The first 40 days

THE FIRST 40 DAYS: Unlike Christians, Jews mostly agree that it is permissible to use embryonic stem cells for research, despite the fact that human embryos are killed in the process. The laboratory harvesting of stem cells takes place within the embryo's first 14 days of existence. Jewish tradition considers a fetus in utero to be "like water" until the 40th day, after which it is treated "like the thigh of its mother" and thereby given human status.

With no legal or moral restrictions on stem cell research, Israel has becoming a leading center for such research--the top nation, in fact, when judged on a per-capita basis. (The U.S. comes in sixth.) "The Jewish religion would consider it far better to use [embryonic stem cells] for cures than to simply throw them away," says Rabbi Elliot Dorff of the University of Judaism (Forward, August 25).

COPYRIGHT 2006 The Christian Century Foundation
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