The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/3/05 Section: Commentary

Character, my father always told me, is the most important trait a person can possess, and I'm positive my religious upbringing helped form this within myself. I always learned in school about morals and what I should hold sacred. I do not like to see or hear about people suffering from terrifying diseases, and I feel it is our duty as fellow human beings to do everything in our power to help them, even if that means taking an embryo comprised of around 70 cells to derive an ES cell line (one embryo creates an immortal cell line that will produce billions upon billions of stem cells, possibly helping hundreds of thousands of people). As a human, what do you think? Try to put aside the biases toward your church or faith that you have developed throughout your lifetime. Do you believe that an embryo, comprised of around 70 cells, should receive the same respect as your mother or father who could benefit from the possible life saving treatments from ESC research? Will that embryo ever say that it loves you? Will it ever hug you and say your name? These are the essential questions. Does the sanctity of a 1-week-old embryo hold precedence over the life of one of our loved ones? Maybe some of you believe so. And for you, I have a question - think back to the above scenario. The traditional drugs and therapies won't stop disease progression and complete dementia is right around the corner, but your father's doctor offers you an alternative treatment. A stem cell based therapy that can possibly restore his mind. Would you say no to this procedure because a 70-celled embryo was sacrificed in order to develop it? It could possibly be a scenario you will face in the future, and you will have to decide which is more important to you. I know what I would choose.

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