Scientific Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Discussion and Essays, grade: 2,0, University of Linz (Fachsprachen), course: Text Production II: Academic and Professional Writing, language: English, abstract: (Embryonic) stem cell research is still highly controversial even if confronted with the vast of chances this new technology might bring to mankind. People with strong ethnic and/or religious beliefs struggle with the idea of having the embryos "killed" in order to produce the valuable stem cells. This paper will focus on the conflict of ethnical beliefs versus scientific progress. It will cover the basic differences between adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research, what the arguments of both sides are and how this conflict is dealt with in the EU.