[The ethical question of the embryo]

The possible use of embryonic stem cells for therapeutic purposes raises once more the ethical question concerning the position of the embryo in relation to medical needs. Since this technology treats the embryo as a raw material, the debate must incorporate a semantic clarification, in order to identify the conceptual ambiguities that exist between popular thought, science, anthropology and the religious and philosophical convictions of the individual. The problem is knowing whether the end always justifies the means and whether the future may be sacrificed to the present.