The opposition to stem cell research focuses greatly on the value of life. I
                   believe that with some slight legal guidelines to reassure the public, stem
                   cell research could greatly benefit all of Earth's life by defeating many
                   diseases. I also see the validity in the arguments of those opposing stem
                   cell research, because like them, I greatly value life.

                   An embryo (from which the stem cells are taken for purpose of research)
                   feels no pain. It has no central nervous system. It is not capable of
                   feeling pain. It isn't comparable to an adult human, an irresistably cute
                   puppy, or a wild stallion running free. Those who oppose stem cell
                   research believe that nevertheless, the embryo and the cells that come
                   from it are alive. That life, they say, should be respected.

                   I ask them this: what kind of life do you respect? Were you vehemently
                   opposing xenotransplantation, a process in which animals are killed so that
                   their organs are harvested for human use? Are you opposing the complete
                   disregard for life when animals are tested upon in laboratories?

                   If not, there is a severe flaw in your logic. How can you argue in favor of
                   a cell or group of cells which cannot feel or register pain, yet carelessly
                   chow down on a steak or wear a fur coat? The animals that were slain for
                   those luxuries certainly felt pain. Those animals consisted of far more than
                   a mere grouping of cells- they had the ability to feel pain when they were
                   being slaughtered.

                   Many of those that oppose animal rights differentiate between the lives of
                   humans and those of other species. It is much harder to maintain that
                   argument when you are comparing a group of human cells that are
                   incapable of feeling pain to a living, breathing animal with a fully
                   developed central nervous system.

                   Instead of worrying about the dangers of stem cell research, I suggest
                   finding other ways to preserve life. Stem cell research will not only
                   provide cures for human and non-human diseases, but it will prevent the
                   violent usage of animals in laboratories.

                   Before you start crusading in favor of the rights of cells, please reconsider
                   your stance on animal rights. By supporting stem cell research, we are not
                   only providing a means for finding a cure for diseases in humans and other
                   species, we are making the abuse of animals by way of experimentation
                   and xenotransplantation obsolete.
 

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