Last week's Question of the Week asked whether recent breakthroughs should assuage ethical concerns about stem-cell research. Near seven out of 10 responses said yes.

It was announced last month that research groups have found ways to give ordinary skin cells the power to turn into virtually any kind of human tissue, just as embryonic stem cells do. That means medicine may eventually be able to manipulate a patient's own cells to mend such things as a broken spinal cord, but scientists were quick to say that much more research still needs to be done on stem cells derived from human embryos.

Among 234 responses to this unscientific poll, 162 thought the breakthrough could assuage the ethical debate over embryonic stem cells; 72 disagreed.

We received just three written responses. They reveal the emotion and sometimes distorted understanding that people can bring to the issue:

- I guess this recent breakthrough proves that those opposed to embryonic stem-cell research were right all along and those supportive of using aborted fetuses for medical experiments were just as wrong as Dr. Mengele.

-God forbid we should find cures for such things as spinal injuries and other illnesses. But, our dear president says no to stem-cell research. I don't know what his problem is. You can bet if someone in his family were to need this research he would be all for it. It doesn't belong in politics at all. It's a medical decision. What they were able to do the other day will help, but there still is going to be problems. Frankly, I don't know how Bush sleeps at night.

- Recent discoveries in the stem-cell arena of research have found that adult stem cells show far more potential for cures than the cells of babies bred for the purpose of slaughter to use the cells. In a recent story (not in this paper of course), researchers have found that using the cells of the patient can provide the stem cells necessary to affect treatment with a good chance of a positive response. Using stem-cell research as an excuse to slaughter babies is always an ethical concern.