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A court in South Korea ruled that human embryos are not yet life forms, according to USA Today. The conclusion of the case was that, "human embryos left over from fertility treatment are not life forms and can be used for research or destroyed," according to Agence France-Presse.

The court also upheld the pre-existing law that allowed the use of embryos left over for research purposes, it also permitted clinics to dispose of embryos that had been frozen for five years after being fertilized.

The court ruled that these fertilized embryos that had not yet been implanted into a mother’s womb were not yet life forms.

Many pro-life activists are opposed to the bioethics law in South Korea, claiming that the fertilized embryo should be given protection and that these embryos are life forms.

The debate between embryonic research has been a heated subject in the scientific community. Should fertilized embryos be considered life forms? Or are they life forms when implanted into the mother? This debate is not only in South Korea, but in the United States as well.

While there is no clear ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ to embryonic research, there are pros and cons to the use of this research.

Due to embryonic research, scientists have been able to find that stem cells taken from these embryos can be used as any cell in the body, adapting to the body’s function of what it needs the cell to be. Stem cells may be used to repair a damaged spinal cord, a part of the body that serves a very important purpose as far as the nervous and muscle systems go. The cells have been shown to help people with acute spinal cord injuries. Embryonic research also has the possibility to treat and eventually cure diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheim...

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...om Greeneberg’s skin, scientists are beginning to look into the science of aging and the changes that science could make.

Though the debate on whether or not a fertilized embryo that has not yet been implanted in the mother should be considered human will continue for possibly as long as the research lasts, the pros and cons of both sides speak for themselves. Should we, as human beings, consider an embryo, or fetus, a child? If we do, is the promise of adult stem cell research’s potential something that will be limited given the age of the subject? If we consider the embryo a non-life form, will we finally find a way to treat and cure cancer as well as other diseases? The subject is up to one’s personal opinion and moral standards, but there is no argument between the communities that the possibilities of stem cell research will open new doors for the human race.