The Iron Ring

On “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday” today on NPR there was discussion of how the rebuilding of Iraq is applied to the area of science. Admittedly, I missed the broadcast, which can be found here (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5506655) but the teasers I heard made me think of something I read a while back from the Brookings Institute.

As part of their document ‘U.S Policy Towards the Islamic World’ published last year (http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/analysis/darcy20050419.htm), the Institute outlined ways in which scientific cooperation would help strengthen our diplomatic ties with the Islamic world:

Despite widespread and growing public hostility to the United States in the Islamic world, American science and technology are widely admired there. This provides a valuable channel for productive cooperation. By working wisely with scientists and engineers from the Islamic world, the United States could bolster economic and human development and aid in tackling important regional problems like natural resource management, all while strengthening American public diplomacy in the Islamic world.

In our country federal policy strongly shapes the boundaries of our science, so I got to wondering, what are those boundaries in the Islamic world? How does Islam reconcile the scientific method, questions of evolution, and environmental conservation?

In particular, I found some sources online regarding the Muslim view of stem cell research. I have included them below. It would seem that Islam is more forgiving than Catholicism when it comes to the definition of life. The religion recognizes a true distinction between life and the potential for life, and while much of the Islamic world is still in discussion over the governing of stem cell research, scientists in many Islamic countries, such as Egypt, and Iran, are already conducting embryonic stem cell research with the approval of their government.

As Ragaa Mansour, scientific director and program manager of the Egyptian IVF Center, stated in the article from the Christian Science Monitor (see link below); "How can we ban anything just because it can be misused?. We should regulate and prevent misuse of technology [and] encourage research in the right direction."

http://www.islam101.com/science/stemCells.htm

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0622/p15s02-wogi.html