Little Human Beings?

A local physician, who shall remain unnamed for obvious reasons, wrote a letter to the editor of our local newpaper in which he said Michael J. Fox was wrong to call for embryonic stem-cell research. His reason was that these embryos, the ones left over from in vitro fertilizations, were "little human beings"! I fired off a response today, so I don't know if it will be published. Here is the text of my response with the doctor's name expunged:

"It is always distressing to read nonsense coming from anyone, especially from someone presumably educated in medicine. To call embryos "little human beings," as ________ did ("Fox wrong on stem-cell stance") is absurd. Really now, are eggs little chickens? Are human beings so inconsequential that a collection of a few undiffentiated cells [see picture above] gets to be elevated to the exalted status of human? The embryos (actually microscopic cell collections with no human characteristics whatever) in question are left over from in vitro fertilizations and if not used are destroyed. Tossed out, dumped in trash. Now doesn't using these instead to help cure devastating human diseases and unnecessary suffering a more compassionate option?"

In the upper right corner is a picture of three embryos as they appear prior to implantation in the uterus. Do you see anything resembling a human? I know, some see these little cell clusters as "potential humans," (although that potential at this point in their development is pretty shaky), but it is quite a stretch to call them "little human beings." Strange that those who protest against the use of these cells in research are rarely heard protesting at all about destroying them if they aren't used in fertilizations.