New Source of Stem Cells?

I heard the following report on the BBC World Service late last night, and have since spotted it over at The Cafeteria is Closed...

There is a possibility that stem cells can be obtained from amniotic fluid, without harm to either mother or baby.

Hmmn. If it's true, then that sounds very encouraging. But I worry that the fluid will be obtained from the amniotic sacs around aborted foetuses, and because everyone's heard that "it's alright, it's not foetal tissue" then distinctions wil be blurred and people won't differentiate. And abortions will be carried out as a way of harvesting the amniotic fluid...

Yes, it sounds crazy, but I used to work as a neuropsychopharmacologist, doing foetal tissue transplants (in rats) and I've read some of the research which was done back then. It's horrific, and some people have the view that scientific research shouldn't be limited by religious "scruples" because we have to make progress...

I wrote an article on this stuff a few years after my return to the Church, and it was published in Faith Magazine (July 1996 - unfortunately not available for download, but I might be able to dig it out if anyone is interested.) Believe me, things have gotten much worse...

UPDATE: I found a copy of my article in the EWTN archives on Pro-Life issues (No. 92). You can link to it HERE.