STEM CELL RESEARCH

Becoming politically active;

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Consider becoming politically active:

If you are pro-life, you probably believe that human personhood begins at conception. Thus you may view the killing of surplus embryos as murder, and the continuing of stem cell research as akin to Nazi medical experimentation on human beings.

If you are pro-choice, then you probably believe that human personhood begins much later in pregnancy. Thus you probably view the killing of surplus embryos to be morally acceptable, particularly if they offer so many potential benefits to mankind. You would probably approve of the use of stem cells that are already extracted,

Either way, you might want to contact President Bush and/or Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thomson with your comments:

Related essays on this web site:

At the heart of the embryo stem cell controversy is a lack of consensus on When human personhood begins.

Cloning and stem cell research bear some points of similarity. They both start with an ovum and initially use some of the same techniques. The eventual goal of human cloning is to create a twin human. The eventual goal of stem cell research is to create a replacement organ or part of an organ.

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis extracts a single cell from an embryo and tests it. This determines whether an embryo contains a genetic defect.

Therapeutic cloning would involve making a embryo that is a clone of a person, extracting its stem cells, and then using them to create tissue or a complete organ. The latter would then be transplanted into the patient. Since the tissue or organ contains the person's DNA, there would be no possibility of rejection. This is not technically possible at the present time. It will take many years to achieve this, if it is ever done. In the meantime, some impressive progress has been made in curing paralysis in rats.

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Copyright © 1998 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2005-OCT-17
Author: B.A. Robinson