We must help research facilities find cures sooner for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer s, diabetes, Parkinson s and AIDS, House Speaker Hastert declared. Of course, few politicians support disease. But it was a sign, say Congress watchers, that the politics of a tax surplus will allow increased commitment to medical research. However, as advancements in medical science leap toward providing better treatments, or even cures, new questions of morality and medical ethics abound. Perhaps no field is fraught with more dynamic possibility and moral concern than stem-cell research.
Stem cells are the basis for every type of cell in the body.
Many scientists believe they hold the key to developing treatments for autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer s, Parkinson s and various forms of paralysis. It long has been believed that pluripotent cells are the most useful for research because they can be coaxed to form a variety of cells. But these are embryonic stem cells harvested from aborted fetuses or embryos taken from a mother for in-vitro fertilization. The use of aborted human tissue has made stem-cell experiments morally controversial. But privately funded research of this kind is not prohibited.