Contact: Larry Jacobs, World Congress of Families, 513-515-3685, 1-800-461-3113, larry@worldcongress.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, June 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Allan Carlson, organizer of the World Congress of Families, expressed dismay at the European Union’s decision to devote more funding to embryonic stem cell research.

Carlson commented: “After years of research with embryonic stem cells taken from aborted children, scientists haven’t developed one treatment for a disease – not one.”

“On the other hand,” Carlson continued, “research on adult stem cells has produced a veritable cornucopia of treatments for many diseases, over 100 to be exact. Adult stem cells have been used for everything from corneal regeneration to treating juvenile arthritis.”

So why favor pie-in-the-sky research over that which has elicited real results? Carlson explains: “It’s a matter of ideology, not science. Because backers of embryonic stem cell research promise miracle cures – someday -- proponents hope the public will come to see abortion not as a necessary evil but as a benefit to mankind.”

By a vote of 284 to 249, with 32 abstentions, the EU parliament decided to devote more funding to embryonic stem cell research. In pervious EU budgets, the bulk of funding in this area went to adult stem cell research.

Carlson observed: “On a continent that saw such wanton destruction of human life in the past century– and which spawned ideologies that viewed people as raw material for the state – you would think the European Union would show more sensitivity for the most vulnerable among us – unborn children.”

World Congress of Families IV will be held in Warsaw, Poland (in the heart of Europe) May 11-13, 2007.  High on the agenda will be a discussion of how pro-family activists can make governments more respectful of the sanctity of human life.

To schedule an interview with Dr. Carlson, contact Larry Jacobs at 815-964-5819 or larry@profam.org. For more information on the World Congress of Families, go to www.worldcongress.org.

What is the World Congress of Families?  -- In response to a militantly anti-family ethos prevalent in the ‘post modern’ West, the World Congress of Families fosters an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, and leaders that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seed bed’ of a civil society. To date, there have been three World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004). WCF IV will be in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007.