Trading lives or changing human nature: He strange dilemma of embryo-based regenerative medicine

Abstract

It is, perhaps, the most important scientific advance in the past one hundred years, and its potential is not even close to realization. It is the most controversial technology imaginable, an improbable combination of the abortion, cloning, fetal tissue, transplantation, gene therapy, animal rights and regenerative medical technology debates, raising worries about women in research, sex, the regulation of in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics, the danger of changing the human germ line, and the war against aging. Before it is developed, some of the most powerful politicians on earth will find themselves forced to modify deeply entrenched views, and a few dozen scientists will become billionaires through patents on bits and parts of embryos.