by Ally Chumley

Created on: August 26, 2007

In August 2001, United States President George W. Bush made a carefully measured response to the ethical debate surrounding human embryo stem cell research. The position taken by the White House approved the use of government funds to further investigate the viability of using stem cells to develop treatments for various medical conditions.

The President imposed strict eligibility limitations on researchers, which restricts them to the use of only about sixty harvested cells, which had already been set aside before the time of the public announcement. Of these, only eleven have been made available to researchers. ("Moderate Republicans Ask Bush" 27) Commentators have viewed this decision cynically, noting the apparent conflict between the policy on abortion, fertility treatments and stem cell research, which sometimes have similar outcomes for the unborn.

There are some strong and valid arguments currently being used against the perpetuation of stem cell research. They include the issue of medical and scientific ethics, the risk of genetic mutations, the dangers associated with immune system rejection, the limitations of relevant scientific knowledge on the subject, and the existence of viable alternatives to the use of human embryos for stem cell harvesting.

The first and most emotive relates to the ethics and morality of utilizing cells which, unimpaired, would give rise to human life. The "Right to Life" movement and other groups and individuals who seek to define life's commencement point at conception, assert that the harvesting of embryonic stem cells amounts to murder. The representation of embryonic cells as "humans" led critics to make angry assertions against stem cell research on moral grounds. Gottweis reports that,
"the National Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in one of
its submissions: The guidelines, for the first time on our
national history, authorize the federal government to approve
and regulate destruction of innocent human life for research purposes. They instruct researchers in how to harvest versatile
"stem cells" from living week-old human embryos, a procedure
which kills embryos'" (National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference, 2000, January 31, (Cited in Gottweis, 1).

The arguments arising from a perspective of what constitutes "moral conduct" are bound to be subjective and full of rhetoric laden with traditions arising from history, culture and religion. While these are valid concerns, and need to be taken

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