Should U.S. Legalize Creating Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Cloning?

Should U .S . Legalize Creating Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Cloning

Stem Cell Research in the US : Current Status

Stem cell research that holds great promise to benefit humanity by creating solution to serious problems like diabetes , cancer Parkinson 's and Alzheimer 's diseases , is also surrounded by strong ethical controversy . The need to produce human embryos to be later destroyed for the generation of new stem cell lines evokes many protests . This is why some scholars suggest using umbilical cord blood as an alternative to human embryos , and others advocate that

stem cell research be restricted to adult cell research (Cimperman , 2005 ,

.2

In the US the policies concerning stem cell research are at this point more restrictive . After much soul searching President Bush decided in the summer of 2001 to allow federal grants for such research that only used sixty or so stem cell lines that have already been established After the veto on federal funding imposed by the President , the opposition to his move against stem cell research was not muted . Senate Majority leader Bill Frist in July 2005 declared that he will support the legislative action directed against Bush 's veto . Frist added that he no longer thinks Bush 's policy sufficiently enables scientists to pursue the "truly magnificent , truly remarkable properties " of stem cells taken from days-old human embryos (Connolly , 2005 ,

.A01

Scientists express concerns that limitations on federal funding will keep them from realizing the huge potential of stem cell research (Stevens , 2003 ,

. 623 . As a result of federal neglect for stem cell research programs , the issue has been taken over by the state authorities . Thus , on July 21 , 2006 , Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approved the allocation of 150 billion to the state 's stem cell research establishment . With this action , he quadrupled the amount of money available in the state to begin research on stem cells (Gledhill , 2006 ,

. B-1 . Cloning , in contrast to stem cell research remains banned under the decisions passed in 1998 , 2001 , and 2003 by the House of Representatives

The Need to Change the Status Quo

At the moment , the removal of the federal source of funding for stem cell research has clearly damaged the prospects of this promising endeavor . Patients who are eagerly waiting for treatment from their currently incurable conditions are forced to count on longer waiting times because the conventional morality balks at killing embryos However , the creation of human embryos through cloning could open tremendous possibilities for medical researchers . It is impossible to estimate the number of human lives that could be saved if the scholars arrived at a viable solution . This is why it is necessary to adopt a plan that would inspire the lawmakers to change their position . The Senate can be induced to advance a proposal that would compete with the ones approved by the House of Representatives to this point

The opponents of embryonic stem cell research hold that deriving embryonic stem cells leads to the destruction of...