[ID] 4377 [Entry Date] 05/01/2009 at 03:49:12 PM [Affiliation] Self [Comments] 
From the Federal Register Notice, dated 04/23/09 "As described in these draft Guidelines, human embryonic stem cells are cells that are derived from human embryos, are capable of dividing without differentiating for a prolonged period in culture, and are known to develop into cells and tissues of the three primary germ layers. Although human embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos, such stem cells are not themselves human embryos." I find it difficult to believe that people who are so highly educated as to be able to endorse human embryonic stem cell experimentation cannot understand how the intentional destruction of one of these embryos is not destroying human life. If you left those cells to "divide...in culture..." and they continued to develop and you put them in an embryo-friendly environment (such as a uterus), these cells would form into a human being; not a zygote, not a fetus, a real person - like the experimenters themselves. PLEASE do not use federal funds to promote/perform human embryonic stem cell research. You are taking a life that does not belong to you, and using my money to do it - against my will (and, even according to the government's definition, I have my rights, even if a embryo or fetus does not).