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RE: There is some ESC research going on, and it is entirely possible that there will be positive outcomes from it.

Highly improbable, due to the fact that ESC's invariably form tumors, are genetically unstable, and never match the donors. EVEN if they ever get cloning to work, which is increasingly improbable, the problems with ESC put them at least 6 decades behind adult stem cells. (The first successful adult stem cell treatment was in 1968, whereas the optimistic estimate is that, if they got cloning to work TODAY, they would need 20 years to develop a therapy). THEN there is the problem of how do you get women to give up their eggs at high risk of illness (19%) death (estimated 1%), loss of fertility (several percent), organ failure (2%) and cancer (rate unknown at this time, since it takes average 20 years to develop, but risk exists)? The only answer is to coerce and virtually enslave millions of women, at the risk of causing an underpopulation crisis. THEN there is the problem that it is prohibitively expensive. Oh, but there's more. Since we now know cloned ESC's from mice were REJECTED by the donors as foreign tissue (Rideout et al, Cell 2002), there's a good likelihood that going to all that trouble is still pointless. Now there's ONE MORE problem. Suppose they told you they had solved all these problems in animal studies and now they want YOU to try out this gazillion-dollar therapy. However, if the tests were wrong, you will develop excruciatingly painful tumors that will spread throughout your body causing you to die a Twilight Zone death. Gonna go for it?

Why not use therapy that is working, inexpensive, and morally acceptable? Unless, perhaps, the real goal is to undermine human rights and underpopulate the planet.

They have been doing ESC research for years. They have several existing lines that are qualified for federal funding. (They claim there are not enough) Bush allowed them to be used because the embryo had already been destroyed.

There is much more to ESC than cloning. I have researched the issue. There are far too many scientists and doctors who see value in this type of treatment to discount the potential benefit. There are many therapies and medications that did not look promising at the beginning, but ended up very beneficial in treatment. Focusing on the lack of documented benefit, is ignoring the real issue.

Even if there was a benefit, taking an innocent life is not acceptable.