3. Embryonic stem cells can be used to help human beings who suffer from debilitating diseases for which no other solution offers hope. For this reason alone, the research should be legal, considering that the embryos from which the stem cells are derived cannot be shown to possess any type of noticeable consciousness. There is no moral reason to favor the use of animals in medical research over the use of embryonic stem cells, considering that the former are fully developed creatures who clearly have the potential to feel pain, whereas the latter demonstrate little more than potentiality. Furthermore, most embryonic stem cells are culled from discarded tissues used for in vitro fertilization. If in vitro...

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Irving, Dianne N. (2005). Framing the Debates on Human Cloning and Human Embryonic Stem Cells: Pluripotent vs. TOTIPOTENT. Retrieved 22 Sept 2005 at http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_100debatecloning1.html

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