Ultimately this debate is surrounded by philosophical questions, some of which are religious in nature. Rightly or wrongly, many people feel that an embryo (however formed) represents a potential human being and is thus sacrosanct. Overriding this are the issues of cloning, which this type of research makes possible. Do humans have the right to control the human reproduction process in this way? What are the legal rights of a clone? Could we produce clones for the purpose of harvesting organs to repair the original?Ultimately, this debate and the many questions that stem (pun intended) from it will be decided by a changing society and its norms. Peering into the night sky to observe planets caused Galileo many problems involving ethics and religion. There have been many similar episodes throughout the history of human society, wherein what was unethical and taboo in the past becomes commonplace across time.
Cloning, of both stem cells and complete humans, is exactly this sort of issue. There is no way to judge whether or not the Stemagen announcement implies Bad Business. This is a question that needs to be answered by society at large, and we need to understand that the answer will change over time as society learns, grows, and changes.
If you would like to look into this topic, you could do worse than to start here.
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