by John Traveler

Created on: November 16, 2009   Last Updated: December 01, 2009

There is no question that embryonic stem cell research is one of the most controversial issues of our time, because it deals with the fundamental precepts of life itself. Is a human embryo a life, a human being, or the incipient form of a life yet to be realized? It is a difficult question and when you put it to the general population you will get a set of answers covering the full spectrum of moral, political, religious and scientific perspectives.

In 1996, when the announcement that the DNA of an adult sheep was successfully cloned in an embryonic stem cell to produce Dolly, a morass of new bio-ethical concerns surfaced inside and outside the secluded halls of the biological sciences. Had scientists crossed the line of ethical restraint? If so, where is that line and when does permissible biological experimentation become Frankensteinism?

It is a dilemma that scientists and the public at large have debated ever since. Fortunately, however, it did not take science long to establish some ethical guidelines at least for those who will subscribe to them to follow. This does not preclude the possibility that there will always be rogue elements among any sector of the populous who take personal license to do what ever they want, irregardless of any standard of ethical behavior. But there is little that can be done to preclude such renegades from making it tougher for those who do follow ethical guidelines to do good science. Furthermore, coming up with a single standard everyone can agree to, is about as difficult as coming up with a consensus of opinion on single payer and the public health option with respect to medical insurance reform; it's not going to happen. But there are some provisions of ethical standard that most researchers in the field of stem cell research are in agreement on.

HUMAN CLONING

The vast majority of stem cell researchers are in agreement that human being should not be cloned for any reason, if for no other reason than the outcome of such an experiment is unpredictable. Among this vast demographic, a smaller group, but still a majority voice, feel that human cloning, beyond that of specific tissues or organs, would be immoral.

NON-HUMAN ANIMAL CLONING

A wealth of information was gained from the Dolly experiment and many things were learned about DNA which can and have been directly applied in research for cures to disease, pharmaceutical development and the general understanding of nucleic acid science. At one end of the spectrum, there are

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