Setting limits on research

Setting limits on research

(Martins Ferry) Times Leader: Medical research continues to break new ground and make advances in the name of science and for the future benefit of those in ill health. However, some scientific endeavors — regardless of how good the intentions may be — push to explore areas that should remain unexplored.

Lawmakers in Ohio are eying safeguards that will help draw appropriate lines.

House Bill 171 is designed to initiate safeguards that prohibit any attempts at human cloning and the creation of human-animal hybrids.

The legislation would ban the transfer of nonhuman embryo into a human womb and the transfer of a human embryo into a nonhuman womb for the purposes of human cloning.

While stem cell research and other scientific endeavors opens new realms of possibilities for a myriad of treatments that could better life for countless individuals, this form of genetic engineering — in many people’s view — pushes the envelope beyond the limits of morality.