program book

14 th AFCMA Congress 2008 Asian Federation Of Catholic Medical AssociationsHuman Dignity in Modern MedicineDecision for conducting researches of human embryonic stem cellsin our universityKatsumi Yoshida MD PhD, Katsuya Akashi MD PhD,St.Marianna University, JapanRegenerative medicine has attracted attention among medical researchers recently. Researchusing human ES(embryonic stem) cells has been applied to the regenerative medical studies.However, human ES cells have strongly related to destruction of human dignity from viewpointsof human origin. Catholic doctrines prohibited to manipulate and destruct human beings.Some researchers wanted to get approvals from institutional ethical committee for using humanES cells in their regenerative studies. Several discussions were conducted for permission of thisstudy. The main points at this issue concern freedom of research, progress of natural science,catholic doctrines and philosophy of our university.Finally, Dr. Akashi, the chairperson of the director board, has attached greater importance tohuman dignity than to other research needs. He also recommended the use of somatic stem cellsinstead of human ES cells for regenerative researches.Simultaneously, Professor Yamanaka at Kyoto University announced the success of buildingIPS(induced plueipotential stem) cell. His IPS cells will be applied to future regenerative studies.The ethics committee of my university has made several meetings for the purpose of enlighteningthe human dignity.Reproductive medicine has been confirmed not to be restricted in gynecological treatments in myuniversity.The Board of directors in our university has made proper decision on the basis of our universityphilosophy and regards human dignity as important.30 Abstracts of Free Paper Session / Poster Presentataion / Country Report