Stem cell discovery eludes ethical war?

EDITORIAL

When does life begin?

This seemingly tiny question is the cause of the bitter war surrounding the debate of whether stem cell research should or should not be federally funded.

Many praise President Bush for his adamant opposition to destroying embryos in the name of research. Most advocates for his barring the use of federal funds, laboratories and federally supported scientist for stem cell research argue that life starts at conception and that destroying an embryo is taking the life of a human.

People who are vehemently oppose the halt of the Clinton Administration's efforts to continue stem cell research believe that life begins at a much later stage. Because stem cells have the ability to turn into the 220 cell types of the human body, they argue that it is irrational to not federally support this research because of the endless diseases that stem cells could find a cure for like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Last Tuesday, scientists in Japan and Wisconsin reported that they had discovered a way to turn human skin cells into cells that behave similarly to embryonic stem cells. The new method, developed by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, requires just four genes to be placed into a skin cell. Since the need for destroying an embryo seems to no longer be required, it is assumed that the bitter ethical debate should come to an end.

With this discovery comes another ethical anxiety that have many still opposed to the continuing of research. Specifically, several people are concerned that with the unlimited amount of stem cells that can be produced, eventually scientists will want to initiate a pregnancy and create cloned human beings.

The Leader acknowledges that this newfound scientific discovery is a slippery slope when discussing the ethical quandaries of cloning human beings, especially because the cloning of animals has already taken place. However, that potential "threat" is a strongly hypothetical situation, specifically because scientists still need to find ways of, "taking that abundant raw material and turning it into useful medical treatments," as stated in The New York Times article, "After stem-cell breakthrough, the work begins." Even though scientists can now create limitless amounts of stem cells without destroying an embryo, they still do not know how to place those cells successfully into the human body. It would appear that human cloning is "a ways down the road."

We should be thinking about the positive outcomes of stem cell research instead of blindly concentrating on the negative.

Two main advances that stem cells can potentially have are the treating and curing of fatal diseases. Not only can replacement tissues for ailing organs be created, but scientists can also use these cells to learn more about the diseases and then create cures. The most current application of this discovery will be to study diseases in monkeys that closely imitate human diseases. By studying the way these diseases work in a laboratory dish, scientists have the capability to find cures.

The breakthrough can attract more scientists into the field because the recent technique is easier to learn and research. Also, there are (potentially) no bureaucratic barriers to this research, which will be less stress provoking for scientists.

There will always be the potential misuse of any great medical, technological or biological advance. Yet, our fear of these abuses should not cloud the current gains the masses can benefit from. People should stay aware of potential exploitation of stem cell research, like the cloning of human beings. However, we should focus on the positive advances that human beings would take away from this discovery, not cower in the shadow of its power.