I agree with Elton Wong that the ban against stem-cell research is misinformed if scientists “no longer have to take stem cells from embryos.” However, I am confused why Wong, after making this claim, abruptly jumped into a bio-theological debate with the inevitable Christian bashing that follows (although let’s not fool ourselves, Christianity isn’t the only faith against stem-cell research.) So what is the issue here — that the bias against stem-cell research is irrational due to current medical technology? Or is it that embryos aren’t actually human, and thus stem-cell research should go on? Apparently, it is the second, because Wong spends the better part of his column bashing those poor-minded Christians — aÿnatural road to take if you are running against a column deadline, I suppose. But Wong seems to have missed a critical point in the whole debate: If embryos are as common as intestinal cells, sperm and eggs, then why not avoid the controversy of using embryos altogether?The answer, which Wongÿis well aware of, is that at the very least, embryos have the unique stem cells that cannot be harvested from common cells. So let’s not use these childish comparisons to menstruation and jellyfish. Atheist scientists and fundamentalist Christians can agree that a human embryo, regardless of its present complexity,ÿhas more potentialÿthan individual sex cellsÿand pond life. As for the discussion on whether or not life begins at conception, clearly, we do not need to step into the messy existence-of-soul debate just yet. Christians aren’t the only ones who have a burden to carry on this matter. First, Wong should explain where the consciousness needed to “think, feel, communicate and have relationships with each other” makes its discrete entrance onto the human development scene. I suspect, though, that since, as Wong said,ÿit is a “smooth progression” from embryo to human being, that there is no such point in time that an embryo suddenly becomes “human” according to Wong’s definition.ÿNo wonder the universal biological — and sometimes theological — definition of human life begins at conception.Wong’s attempt to clarify the stem-cell research debate is well-intentioned, and he seems qualified to do it. But let’s not cloud the issue with cheap Christian bashing and simplified philosophy. Dan Nguyen

Sophomore

Computer Engineering