Despite ongoing successes with stem cell research, the debate over embryonic stem cell research continues unabated. This is especially true in state legislatures across US, where dueling proposals to ban such research or to allow federal funding to continue it, ended yesterday with the bill that was passed by the US House of Representatives in a fascinating political drama.

While their rank-and-file congregants broadly support stem cell research, many religious leaders, especially groups associated with the anti-abortion movement, have come out staunchly against it. It’s an issue that affects lots of swing voter Republicans who will move to the Democratic side. When they know somebody who says, ‘my daughter could be blind by age 20, please allow stem cell research,’ they don’t see why not.‘

The central ethical issue raised by this research was but natural. This tension between technical advance and respect for research subjects is at least as old as modern medicine itself. No doubt, advocates of unlimited research freedom complain that ethical restraints get in the way of progress.

Presently, Christians oppose embryonic stem cell research for quite a few interconnected reasons, as it requires the destruction of human embryos. This can be credited to the lack of proper animal modeling and experimentation. While talking about ethics too, many questions remain unanswered, whether there are any ‘ethical methods’ for obtaining embryonic stem cells.

So, in medical research on human subjects, should considerations related to the well-being of the human subject take precedence over the interests of science and society? Or, should we take the cautious route by not pursuing them in human research until it is clear from animal studies that the entity in question is in fact not an embryo? Or, should we stop the campaign for expanded federal support for embryonic stem cell research that ignores the fact that its goal cannot be achieved without violating even more ethical norms? Or, should we bring to halt an approach in the midstream after the efforts of years and millions of dollars before it is able to produce any results - with devastating consequences for patients now awaiting treatments?