MANILA The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has a reminder to those taking the ice bucket challenge, which supports research efforts of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (ALSA).

CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said research on ALS involves the use of stem cells.

''ALS is a degenerative disorder and stem-cells apparently hold out the promise of reversing the death and degeneration of brain cells, in particular,'' Villegas said in a statement.

''Stem cells however are most readily harvested from embryos, and it is in this regard that this type of research is ethically problematic."

Citing the ''Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation,'' Villegas noted that ''human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and subjects with rights."

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord, which eventually leads to paralysis.

Villegas said the ALS Association said in a statement that ''most stem-cell research in ALS is currently focused on iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells, which are not burdened with ethical issues."

''We are told that iPS cells are 'induced pluripotent stem cells', stem cells created from skin cells. Such cells would indeed be pluripotent, but would not be embryonic cells,'' the CBCP chief said.

''As such, the ethical objection to the use of embryonic cells, whether harvested from embryos, or obtained through in vitro fertilization, would not arise."

The prelate, however, noted that the ALS Association also admitted that ''iPS cells are used in 'most stem-cell research.'''

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Catholics warned about ice bucket challenge

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