The Stem Cell Controversy: Debating the Issues

Stem cell research is headline news. Researchers are eager to move forward, state governments and private foundations are rushing to support it, and the sick and afflicted are desperate for its benefits. Yet powerful forces in our society - led by President George W. Bush - find it morally troubling and they are doing all in their powers to restrict its development beyond a very limited scale. Stem cells have the potential to develop into different parts of the body - skin, bone, nerves, blood, and more. Scientists usually harvest them from aborted foetal tissue or newly fertilised cells. This procedure has proved very unacceptable to the religious right. They argue that even a newly fertilised cell is fully human and has all of the rights of full-grown adults, and they find any use of aborted foetuses abhorrent. Given the medical potential for treatment of incurable diseases by stem cell research, as well as the moral dilemmas this technology poses, should such research be permitted? What moral, religious, or political objections might be raised? Philosophers Michael Ruse and Christopher Pynes have compiled this valuable, up-to-date, and newly revised collection of articles by noted experts to address all aspects of the stem cell controversy. The contributors - scientists, medical practitioners, philosophers, theologians, historians, and policy analysts - offer a variety of perspectives to give readers the critical tools they need to shape an informed position on the topic. Readers will come away with a deeper understanding of the science of stem cell research, its medical cures and promises, and the moral, religious, and policy concerns surrounding this controversial social issue.