Stem Cell Research, Morals and Religion

[Enigmatic]

Re: Stem Cell Research, Morals and Religion

@KiteRunner

But many scholars also say that live begins at the point of fertilisation or the point at which the cells begin to divide, so although I would agree with IVF the fact that embryos (which IMO are living beings) are discarded is wrong.

I would also agree with stem cell research if they used the stem cells from umbilical cords which are almost if not just as good at differentiating as the ones they extract from the embryos. There’s also the stem cells from the bone marrow, albeit not as great but still usable.

Also, stem cell research is still so experimental, they still get it horribly wrong at times so right now it’s not really a viable solution (although there have been quite a few amazing success stories)/

That is true. The real dilemma is the creation of embryos just for the sake of research. But then we have so many issues where we have had countless human and animal trials but ended up creating drugs that caused a significant improvement in treatment of crippling diseases such as Parkinsonism, MS and other neurological disorders.

It’s like a wild shot in the dark. We might succeed, we might end up having horrible results. The key would be not to transgress or create a chaos in the balance Allah has for us.

Like psyah bhai said, the intention really matters too. Say we have a guy with two kids and he’s suffering from early onset Parkinsons and his life has disrupted and he has lost his job. If someone does donate their germ cells for creation of an embryo that could eventually help some way this patient and his family, would it still be unethical?