What is the Controversy?

          When it comes to stem cells and how they are obtained, there is a huge controversy on using embryonic stem cell, not adult stem cells. The stem cell controversy is the ethical debate centered on research involving the creation, usage and destruction of these human embryonic stem cells (Wikipedia, 2008). Each side of the debate, the side for, and the side against using embryonic stem cells, has plenty of valid reasons as to why their side should prevail. According to Wikipedia (2008), the people against stem cells say that it is a slippery slope which will eventually lead to human cloning. On the other hand, people in favour of stem cell research argue that they have enormous medical potential and could be a scientific breakthrough.

          From an objective point of view, one of the reasons why stem cells could be vital in medical research is because stem cells can help trauma to the brain, spinal cord, skeletal muscles, and the heart, as well as degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (Wikipedia, 2008). Wikipedia (2008), states that this issue is highly controversial because with the present state of technology, to start an embryonic stem cell line it requires the destruction of a human embryo, an early form of human life. Certain people, who are opposed to stem cell research, say that because an embryo is an early form of human life, it should not be killed. If they are in fact killed, then they believe that it should be considered murder (Wikipedia, 2008).

          Wikipedia (2008), states that in the US alone, at least 400 000 embryos have been either destroyed or kept for long periods of time in labs, long past their viable storage life. Wikipedia also says that medical researchers widely believe that stem cell research has the potential to dramatically change approaches to understanding and treating some diseases, and to stop suffering. Researchers have been able to obtain mouse embryonic stem cells without actually killing the embryos, which could prove vital in the debate if this can be done to human cells. The key issue is whether potential life should be valued as much as life that already exists.