Stem Cell research nothing to fear

Imagine if we had the technology to create a medicine that could transform into anything the body needed. If the body was lacking white blood cells, this medicine could take care of it. If the body was lacking skin cells, this medicine could take care of it. If an organ of the body was being eaten by cancer, this medicine could create healthy cells to replace the cancerous ones. It would be great, right? You bet.\nWell, as we are slowly learning every day, the future is not so far off, and neither is this technology. Stem cell research has been in the works for years and recently, one scientist cloned a human embryo to further the research. Naturally, he shook the American landscape with this breakthrough.\nThanks to the scientists at the Advanced Cell Technology, the American people now have frightening visions of identical people running around the country. Well, calm down America. No one is going that far. \nAccording to an article on CNN.com, Robert P. Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific development at ACT and an author of the study, said "Our intention is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to make lifesaving therapies for a wide range of human disease conditions including diabetes, strokes, cancer, AIDS and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer\'s disease." \nPresident George W. Bush came out immediately condemning the cloning, saying that "we should not as a society grow life to destroy it, and that's exactly what's taking place." I wonder if he considers the death penalty destroying life.\nStem cells derived from these cloned cells can actually save lives. Stem cells are basically cells that have not yet been differentiated and can only be extracted from embryos. Scientists believe these cells could possibly be the key to curing many ailments. Stem cells can replace anything in the body -- skin cells, blood cells, lung cells -- without any fear of an immune response. This is still somewhat far off as scientists are still trying to isolate the elements to make stem cells become the kind of cells they want them to become.\nBut in the minds of America and certainly our president, therapeutic cloning is the equivalent of reproductive cloning and it is still scary. We are scared that one man may have too much power over human life. Creating life has always been up to some higher power or biological science, depending upon what you believe. \nBut this cloning is not about being able to produce another human being. It is about saving the lives of others. A wise man once told me that technology, no matter what it is, can be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. Nuclear power for example, could solve many of the energy problems America is experiencing. At the same time, nuclear weapons could wipe out all of humanity.\nWhy should we throw away this technology when we know it could cure so many diseases? Cancer is plaguing our country. AIDS is eating away at Africa. Diabetes is robbing children of their parents. We could stop this if we just trusted our scientists to go ahead with their research. \nI am not afraid of cloning. Biotechnologists and scientists go into their fields to help preserve and better human life, not to hurt it. If they can save even one life with this new technology, let them do it.