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The moral ramification of stem cell research.
Stem cell research provides an understanding of human development and presents prospects of developing new treatments for various diseases such as diabetes spinal cord injuries, heart ailments and Parkinson’s disease. Despite these prospects, stem cell research poses ethical issues. These ethical issues centre on the derivation of stem cells from embryos. Other methods of deriving stem cells pose lesser ethical issues compared to deriving stem cells from embryos.
Before looking into the ethics associated with stem cell research it is essential to understand what embryonic stem cells are and the research associated with these cells. The zygote divides and develops after …show more content…
The harvesting and the use in research of the differentiated stem cells of the blastocysts is considered by these theorists as a destruction of life which begins at conception. Stem cell research, therefore, denies the embryo its end as it is not allowed to develop into a child. According to this theory, stem cell research is wrong because an embryo is a human being since life begins at conception and destruction of embryos is destruction of life. According to natural law theorist’s embryos should be treated as human beings from its conception. Anything done to the embryo to prevent it from developing is …show more content…
If an embryo is not human life it can be destroyed, especially if it is intended to serve the interests of others. However, if the embryo is a human being it has the image of God and cannot be destroyed. The embryo is a human being capable at some point in tie of exercising the operations of free will and rational thought. According to St. Thomas Aquinas a person is a distinct being existing in an intellectual nature. This definition is important as the morality of stem cell research is based on whether an embryo is a person. Although an embryo is dependent on its mother at the time it is conceived, it has a life of its own and is not an integral part of the mother. Because natural law theorists believe that an embryo is a person, the destruction of embryonic cells is equivalent to murder which is against natural laws. The objective of the process including the foreseeable advantage to science and other human beings cannot justify experimentation on embryonic
Professor
Course
Date
The moral ramification of stem cell research.
Stem cell research provides an understanding of human development and presents prospects of developing new treatments for various diseases such as diabetes spinal cord injuries, heart ailments and Parkinson’s disease. Despite these prospects, stem cell research poses ethical issues. These ethical issues centre on the derivation of stem cells from embryos. Other methods of deriving stem cells pose lesser ethical issues compared to deriving stem cells from embryos.
Before looking into the ethics associated with stem cell research it is essential to understand what embryonic stem cells are and the research associated with these cells. The zygote divides and develops after …show more content…
The harvesting and the use in research of the differentiated stem cells of the blastocysts is considered by these theorists as a destruction of life which begins at conception. Stem cell research, therefore, denies the embryo its end as it is not allowed to develop into a child. According to this theory, stem cell research is wrong because an embryo is a human being since life begins at conception and destruction of embryos is destruction of life. According to natural law theorist’s embryos should be treated as human beings from its conception. Anything done to the embryo to prevent it from developing is …show more content…
If an embryo is not human life it can be destroyed, especially if it is intended to serve the interests of others. However, if the embryo is a human being it has the image of God and cannot be destroyed. The embryo is a human being capable at some point in tie of exercising the operations of free will and rational thought. According to St. Thomas Aquinas a person is a distinct being existing in an intellectual nature. This definition is important as the morality of stem cell research is based on whether an embryo is a person. Although an embryo is dependent on its mother at the time it is conceived, it has a life of its own and is not an integral part of the mother. Because natural law theorists believe that an embryo is a person, the destruction of embryonic cells is equivalent to murder which is against natural laws. The objective of the process including the foreseeable advantage to science and other human beings cannot justify experimentation on embryonic