Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Slog has a great piece on the ethics of embryonic stem cell research. Check it out here. In short, the writer -- Jonathan Golob, a scientist apparently -- walks us through some basics of stem cells and what they mean for science and treatment. He also explains why he doesn't consider pre-implantation embryos to be human beings. Yet, he recognizes people hold strong convictions about this, and argues convincingly about the oversight that should accompany this research and donation -- and how Obama's new rules might be the first step toward that.


An excerpt:

I do not believe human embryonic stem cell research should be a free-for-all. While I do not personally believe that human life starts at the moment when sperm-meets-egg, I do recognize that human blastocysts deserve serious treatment.

I believe that the donation of blastocysts and the distribution of the subsequent embryonic stem cell lines should be strictly decommercialized. The entire process should be like how we handle organ donation from adults—with oversight, and the prohibition of money changing hands in the process.

Obama's easing of the Federal funding restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research opens the door for such a policy in a way that Bush's restrictions never did. By preventing public funding, the destruction of human embryos was forced into the private sector. In a horrifying way, Bush's policies made the destruction of human embryos a matter of private enterprise—a potentially for-profit venture. Anything else would be better.