Medical Miracle? or Moral Abomination?

"In California, voters authorized spending $3 billion over 10 years for embryonic stem cell research. A bipartisan Congress voted to ease federal restrictions, legislation which Bush vetoed. And opponents continued to push for a total ban on the research."

There is no question that embryonic stem cells have remarkable properties. They can grow indefinitely in the lab, and they can turn into any cell type in the body. But to obtain them, a human embryo must be destroyed.
Scientists first showed that it was possible to grow embryonic stem cells in 1998. 

The line has been drawn on a million planes, and still the world is torn apart on this subject - why?




Under normal circumstances, other scientists would have rushed to study the new cells. But because of congressional restrictions, federal money can't be used for research that harms an embryo.
President Bill Clinton decided it was OK to use federal money to study embryonic stem cells once they were growing in the lab, so long as private money was used to create them.

President George W. Bush considered the idea of stem cell research only to announce that he would support the research but only under strict guidelines. In essence this was a fatal mistake as it succeeded in angering both parties - the opposition was mad that he would support it at all while the supporters were frustrated by the strict regulations. 

With the election of President Obama, the tide swung toward the scientists. In a White House ceremony in March, Obama said,

"With the executive order I am about to sign, we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers, doctors and innovators, patients and loved ones have hoped for and fought for these past eight years. We will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell research."

So where does the science of embryonic stem cells stand after a decade of political wrangling?

Politically - undecided
Scientifically - very promising - and yet; still a topic of debate

It seems we may never come to terms with the ugly reality we live in. Society would much rather uphold it's religious views than anything scientific that might actually challenge their beliefs. A massive flaw, a big mistake - but to each his own.

-Darkn3ss

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