The potential of stem cell research is almost biblical in its scale. The capacity for these cells to transform into whatever the body needs to regenerate itself could, in the lifetime of the next generation, make the blind see, the crippled walk, and the deaf hear. It could cure cystic fibrosis and arrest muscular dystrophy. Yet it also raises one of the most difficult dilemmas in medical research.
Ethical Issues:
- possible cures for diseases and conditions that at present have no cure, stem cells will allow the regeneration of damaged 'body systems', etc.
- but many object because to carry out the research and harvest the stem cells involves the destruction of embryos - for those that believe life begins at conception this means the destruction of countless numbers of people
