Research involving human embryos and fetuses has yielded an impressive array of results over the years. Experimental stem cell therapies offer hope for the development of a wide variety of medical treatments in the future, for conditions including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, seizures, Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy, and chronic lung disease. Bone marrow transplantation is the only stem cell therapy that has actually proven successful. Why is stem cell so controversial?
In the 1970s, the controversy focused on research involving fetuses in utero, aimed at developing techniques such as amniocentesis and improving the understanding of conditions such as congenital heart disease, as well as on research involving tissue from aborted fetuses of the type that led to the polio vaccine. Federal funding of this research was halted until guidelines and safeguards were established by a blue-ribbon, congressionally mandated commission and later codified into federal law. Opponents of embryonic stem cell research compare the destruction of an embryo to an abortion. They believe that the embryo constitutes life because it has the potential to fully develop into a human being. Those against embryonic stem cell use believe that is it immoral and unethical to destroy one life to save another. Those who support embryonic stem cell research believe that an embryo is not equivalent to human life because it is inside the womb. Supporters also contend that the societal costs of many diseases and conditions, both in monetary and suffering aspects, means that the ethical concerns regarding embryonic stem cell usage are not sufficient to warrant discontinuation of this promising therapy.
Researchers think human embryonic stem cells could be a boon to medical research and treatment. "Embryonic stem cells could serve as replacement cells for those that have been lost or destroyed because of disease," says Robert Goldstein, Chief Scientific Officer of the Juvenile Diabetes...