A patient with Parkinson’s Disease

Is it justifiable to destroy an embryo to develop treatments to serious diseases or to destroy one life to help another one?

“It is not justifiable to destroy an embryo unless that embryo is going to be destroyed anyway, which is the case in all embryonic stem cell research in this country.

“The question of destroying one life to help another one is inapplicable in this case. The Oxford English dictionary finds ‘a life’ as being the time from birth to death. Embryos may be ‘alive’ in a scientific sense but bear absolutely no resemblance to the lives of people we interact with every day. Embryos do not so much live as exist.”

Does an embryo produced in the laboratory have the same status as an embryo produced naturally by sperm and egg?

“Cloned embryos are similar in status to an embryo produced by sperm and an egg. The principal difference is that great care needs to be taken with cloning and there need to be strict rules established so that science does not interfere or impact on the natural progress of evolution.

“Cloned embryos for research purposes are useful tools. Cloning for the purposes of recreating whole lives could have dangerous implications.”

Is it right to ask a woman to go through treatment to produce human eggs that are intended for use in medical research given that this procedure can often be painful?

“The answer to this question is simple, a woman should have the right of choice as to whether to go through such a treatment. It is not for anyone other than the individual involved to make such a decision.”