Vatican vs. Nature

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: xenotransplantation poses many problems... but the Vatican approves of it. : war - it, too, is the implicit acceptance of the notion that nature, God's creation, comes second to man's desire... how do the trees & the animals feel when a bomb is dropped on them? : we forget about these things - but someday they will come back to haunt us all. : -------------------------- : Nature 414, 582; 06 December 2001 : "Belief in our dominion is a backward step" : : : Sir – It is disheartening to read your News item "Vatican approves use of animal transplants 'to benefit humans'" (Nature 413, 445; 2001). It is the rationale of the Pontifical Academy, rather than its approval of xenotransplantation, that is particularly worrisome. : According to your report, "the academy argues that because humans enjoy a unique and superior dignity, and God has placed non-human creatures at the service of people, the sacrifice of animals is justified as long as there will be a 'relevant benefit for humans'." : This smacks of a return to pre-darwinian human arrogance and egotism. Didn't humanity long ago abdicate its monarchy over creation, giving up at last the notion of 'special creation' and human 'dominion over all things'? Even in the thirteenth century, St Francis of Assisi preached that all of nature, having been created by God, is important and worthy of respect. : I can think of few more dangerous attitudes than that promulgated in Genesis 1:28 and now by the Vatican, exhorting humanity, as the crown of creation, to "have dominion ... over every living thing". At what cost, mastery? : Robert C. Fleck : Physical Sciences Department, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd, Daytona Beach, Florida 32114, USA : :

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