Illinois has successfully moved to the forefront of unethical and politically charged stem cell research, handing out $10 million to 10 research groups.
The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (CBHD) expressed its disappointment today in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's decision to award grants to fund research that will include use of embryonic stem cells. While CBHD states the desire to heal people is certainly "laudable, good ends should not be pursued via unethical means."
"Human embryos are not potential human beings but human beings with potential," said CBHD President Dr. Andrew Fergusson. "Have we not yet learned that devaluing one group of human beings for the alleged benefit of others is a price we simply cannot afford to pay?"
Existing treatments that use umbilical cord-blood and bone marrow stem cells, which are ethically non- problematic, expose the fact that research requiring the destruction of human embryos is unnecessary for medical progress.
Related: Stem Cell Politics
