Stem Cells

It appears that scientists are starting to make some amazing breakthroughs using stem cells. A story in the Australian Herald Sun reports:

A SOUTH Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood

RIO DE JANEIRO, November 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Brazilian scientists have successfully transplanted adult stem cells into a woman's brain, facilitating her recovery from a brain hemorrhage that left her paralyzed and unable to talk.

Maria da Graca Pomeceno, 54, had bone marrow stem cells taken from her pelvis and injected into her damaged brain. Local television broadcasts showed her walking up stairs and talking.

If these reports are true, then medical science is indeed taking some great strides forward. It would be wonderful if we could cure spinal cord and even brain injuries!
There is another story, however, that I find disturbing. It talks about injecting human stem cells into animals. This allows them to grow human organs, a liver or kidney for example, in an animal such as a sheep. This is all well and good for organ transplants. It is the injection of human stem cells into the brains of mice to grow mice with brains consisting of mostly "human" brain cells, along with other statements in this article that I find rather disturbing. A bioethicist, Joseph Fletcher, even "suggested that it would be ethical to create parahumans, e.g., human/animal hybrids to do dangerous and demeaning jobs." Do we REALLY need to do these kinds of things just because we CAN? Who gets to decide which actions are right and which are wrong? There are so many different countries in this world that have different views and ideals. One country may ban an action while another supports it.
The future excites me and scares me at the same time.