I copied this from a chat moderated by Dr. David Scadden, who is the co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Research center. I'm a nurse and I have a family member with infertility, so this is a really tough one for me. What it comes down to (for me) is this... If there is absolutely, positively, no way that embryo has no chance of ever being implanted and everything possible has been done to ensure that -- then go ahead and use it for stem cell research.

Thanks,
Elyse

Questioner: "If you truly believed that an embryo was a human being with a right to life, would you be against embryonic stem cell research? I understand the research potential, but am very uncomfortable with the source. ... I'm wondering how you'd encourage people who have a legitimate objection to embryonic stem cell research to overcome their qualms without sacrificing a basic tenet?"


David Scadden: "This is an extremely personal decision a person needs to make. There are at least two morally justifiable positions on this work. The first is the one you state; the other is that people are suffering from conditions that might be helped if we were to use cells that were otherwise destined for the incinerator. As a physician, I am compelled by the opportunity to relieve suffering recognizing that hundreds of thousands of stored embryos in IVF clinics will otherwise become medical waste. If and when we can move away from needing to use such cells, I assure you that scientists in the field are anxious to do so. (emphasis: mine) At the moment, these are still the gold standard pluripotent cells. We hope to move away from them with more understanding of the so called iPS (induced pluripotent cells), but we are not yet at that point."