Ethics of Genetic Engineering

Obviously the field of genetic engineering is fraught with ethical concerns, to which the attached article clearly testifies. In this case, the specific ethical issue concerns the combination of human and animal genetic material, and when such a mass of cells can be considered an "embryo." Apparently countless of experiments are currently being conducted to produce human tissues and other organic material beneficial to humans. However, one recent experiment consisted of fusing together a human cell with a cow's egg to produce "stem cells," cells which can be used as any human cell. The mass of resulting cells died within a few days, and an ethical issue arose regarding the death of a "human embryo." Obviously creating and promptly allowing an embryo to die would be a breach of ethical protocols, but the current argument is an attempt by all parties to draw a definitive line between simply cells and an embryo.