Regarding "Stem cell Tissue Center offeres insight into biomedical trends" in Friday's Daily, it is suggested in the article that further research into embryonic stem cells will bring moral clarity on the issue. However, if a human embryo is a human life, then the process which extracts stem cells from an embryo, destroying it, is murder, and no amount of research can change that.
Also, from a practical perspective, non-embryonic stem cells can be ethically obtained from several sources other than bone marrow, including umbilical cord blood, skin and even teeth.
Furthermore, non-embryonic stem cells have been used to successfully treat conditions including spinal cord injuries, heart damage and Parkinson's disease. To date, embryonic stem cells have not been used to successfully treat any human patients.
Jared Burdin
(EN '06)
