HAY GUYS

Nall · Nov 24, 2007, 06:50 PM

I'm putting money down right now that somebody (more than likely a Southern Republican Catholic woman with a bug up her ass) will bitch about it.

Though it isn't putting life in danger, any act of "playing God" like growing tissue groups or even complex organs is a touchy issue. It doesn't even have to be a "God" issue, either. If you view embryonic cells (and by extension, embryos) as life, that means lives were lost for this research to take place, and that's what people will have an issue with. I realize I'm taking this issue to a bit of an extreme here, but if the former is true the question then is: do the ends justify the means? Does the fact that a few lives were lost balance out with many times more saved in future?

Personally, I think this is a step in the right direction; the very fact that time and money were put into a way to utilize stem cells that eventually won't harm living things shows that there is at least a little morality in the scientific community. Although, embryonic cells *were* used in this process, it may eventually turn into something very beneficial. But, as was said, the process is hardly perfected anyway. I will say this, though: if I were dying and someone offered me an organ derived from this research, I'd take it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Nall · Nov 26, 2007, 06:50 PM

That's a fair position. Regardless of whether the cells would grow into a human being or simply restorative tissue, they *can* serve a purpose. I think we can all agree that the general purpose of this research is to make life better for everyone, it's simply an issue of how we achieve that goal with the minimal amount of human (or in this case, pre-human) suffering. Do we have a right to toy with the base substances of life, even if our intentions are good? I think the answer is yes, but *only* if we never lose sight of why we are performing this research in the first place: to give every person the chance to experience a long life uninhibited by physical restraints or disease. As long as we put ethics first (IE, continually develop methods that decrease the reliance on human cells), I think the expense is worth it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.