The Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cells—Now and Forever, Cells Without End

;the embryonic human origins of such cells warrantsan equally profound ethical concern. The ethical issues arenot primarily matters of scientific fact nor of political be-lief. Consequently, these issues cannot adequately be ad-dressedsimplybyreferencetothebiologyofembryonicstemcells or the contemporary political context of stem cell re-search. To successfully make the case for developing thetherapeutic potential of human embryonic stem cells, thebiomedical community must engage these issues as genu-ine questions of morality and social policy. Just as an accu-rate understanding of stem cell biology is crucial to soundpolicy making, an accurate appraisal of the substantive andinseparable ethical issues is equally crucial. The biomedi-calcommunityandsocietyasawholecananswertheseques-tionsandjustifytheclinicalpromiseofembryonicstemcellresearch but only by paying serious attention to the legiti-mate ethical issues.