Federal Funding Of Death

7 Pages 1735 Words

Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research has been a debatable issue since the 2004 Presidential election. Embryonic stem cell research involves removing stem cells from human embryos resulting in their destruction. These stem cells can form “stem-cell lines” that have the potential to be produced into 210 different kinds of tissue that can help restore lost or compromised function of other human beings (“Founding Statement, par. 2). Some scientists offer great promise of this research claiming it will help treat many diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, and Parkinson’s disease. While the promise of this research may cause many Americans to believe that it should be pursued with great force, the many problems associated with it are being ignored. The ethical dilemmas of this research seem obvious, but the legal and scientific problems are not. There are also many alternate research methods that the government could be funding that do not harm humans. The following paper describes the ethical and scientific problems associated with embryonic stem cell research, but more importantly, it provides alternative methods of research the government could fund. American’s tax dollars should never be used for research that results in the destruction of human beings.
If a hospital patient is in desperate need of a liver transplant, a scientist doesn’t stop the first man he sees on the street to cut out his liver. This would be unethical. How is this any different from scientists conducting embryonic stem cell research? An embryo, the earliest form of human life, is destroyed in order to retrieve stem cells used to treat diseases of other humans. This is also unethical. The White House’s web page offers a statement from President Bush to America on the subject of embryonic stem cell research. He tells of how an embryo is made up of a cluster of cells, just as he and the rest of America started out (Bu...