The 35th of 50 Genetic Ideas You Really Need to Know, the excellent primer by Mark Henderson, is titled ‘Stem Cells,’ and succinctly summarises this high-profile issue. Embryonic stem cells, according to Henderson:
are the body’s master cells, the raw material from which bones and brains, livers and lungs are grown. . . . Because they are ‘pluripotent,’ with the ability to give rise to any of these tissues, they have great medical potential. . . . As they must be harvested from embryos, some religious groups consider their use unethical.
I fail to spy ethical problems with stem cells but wonder: is my view common to atheists? Let me see if I can readily follow this issue.
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[...] selected a book to read about stem cells, one of the genetics topics I decided to follow up. I was seeking something as close as possible to ‘right here, right now,’ something [...]