Embryonic Stem Cell Research Alternatives Still Present Moral issues | LifeNews.com: With the new mRNA method for producing iPS cells the prospects for iPS cell research are better than ever. In this respect, opponents of ESCR should welcome the news. They should be aware, however, that it is no moral panacea.
To begin with, demand for embryonic stem cells will continue in the near future. Researchers need to compare the iPS cells to ES cells, which means destroying embryos. In the long run, fewer embryos may be destroyed in stem-cell research as research shifts to iPS cells; but this transition may take years.
The moral complications of the new state of the art go even deeper, due to an advance that scientists anticipate within a decade: using iPS cells to create human sperm and egg cells. Scientists will be able to create an entire embryo using ordinary skin cells or other adult cells, without ever using gametes harvested from a person. This method, which we might call gameteless reproduction, makes in vitro fertilization look like child’s play and gives us more control than ever over human reproduction.
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