Communications and Media

According to deontological viewpoint supported by Immanuel Kants theory of the categorical imperative, it states that human beings should be taken as ends and not means (Lachmann 2001). According to Warnock (1984) he explained that some people including various scientists have a belief that blastocysts are human beings that have equal rights just like other people.  In fact, a number of scientists believe that human-hood starts at the very moment of conception, when the sperm fertilizes the egg in vitro or naturally. For instance, the Deputy Director of the secretariat for Pro-life Activities in The United States, Richard Doerflinger in 2004 asserted that each human life, beginning from the very first time of its existence to its natural death, should be given respect and also be protected. A persons life has intrinsic dignity that can not be measured. Thus each living member of the human being, the human embryo included should be treated the same way a person is treated (Doerflinger, 2004).

False hope 
Indeed, in 2007, Dr.Woo Suk Hwang, a South Korean scientist who is credited for cloning the first human embryo through stem cell research, was accused of falsifying data. This accusation was made by Roh Sung-il, who together with Hwang had carried out a study that purported to indicate that they had created stem cells to treat medical conditions of eleven patients, this had raised hopes for new treatments. However, Dr. Hwang had to withdraw the study paper because of grave errors as well as loopholes in the reporting of the scientific achievement (Buzzle.com, 2008).

Unethical
Numerous ethicists as well as scientists also are against stem cell research. Indeed, in statement given out in July 1999, 100 bio-ethicists, scientists as well as legal scholars stated that, they opposed stem cell research on the basis that it was unethical and needless (Buzzle.com, 2008). Some them point out that latest studies indicate that adult stem cell could be more adaptable than it was thought in the past.

Rebuttal
The key benefits that are derived from embryonic stem cells, is that it is possible to propagate stem cells nearly indefinably in the laboratory. At the same time they can be modified in a genetic way and generally, they can be induced so that they differentiate into different desired cell forms. Nonetheless, as noted by Warnock (1984) the widespread application of embryonic stem cells entails the destruction of the human embryo which in turn raises the ethical question.