LETTERS: LET'S DO RESEARCH ON ADULT CELLS, NOT EMBRYOS

To the editor:

There is a difference between stem-cell research, which has been around for over 20 years and has enjoyed a lot of success, and embryonic stem-cell research, which is a relatively recent phenomenon and has enjoyed little, if any, success.

A recent writer claimed the humon zygote is not a human being. Years ago, biology textbooks told the truth with statements like "The egg or ovum is united with the sperm and conception takes place. This is the beginning of a human life." Now textbooks are written to be politically correct. From a purely biological standpoint, the moment of conception when DNA is transferred is the only distinguishable point for the beginning of human life.

Another writer tried to claim that a human being is only a human being when we recognize it as such. Logic demands that any being is what it is despite whether or not it is recognized as such. White slave owners didn't recognize their black slaves as human beings. This lack of recognition did not in any way diminish the humanity of slaves. If we fail to recognize a human being in its earliest stages of life as being truly human, it will not change the fact that the being is indeed human.

Let's fully fund stem-cell research, the kind that has a proven record of success, the kind that does not use cells from embryos. Let us reject embryonic stem-cell research for what it is: the destruction of a human life on the chance it might produce some undetermined benefit.

MARY HA

Cape Girardeau