Life-saver or Damnation?

Listening to BBC Radio 4 today I heard a programme about life science research in China. The programme started with the sounds of a gurgling baby with the happy coo-ing of aunt and grandma. The presenter stated that this was a special baby because she was among the first to be born where the umbilical cord was to be kept in deep freeze so that in future, should she need it, stem cells could be taken from it to help repair damaged organs and tissue.
A Chinese professor was wheeled in to tell of all the research he and his team were doing in this field. He talked of the possible benefits of such science, especially the possibility of helping people with injured spinal cords to regain some kind of normality in their life. Usually such injuries are a sentence to immobility and suffering. The professor in question, along with many other Chinese experts, had studied in Europe and the USA and were practising in those countries when the Chinese government woke up to the fact that their best brains were being lured away by money and good facilities in foreign lands. They set about building the institutions and facilities to entice their nationals back to work in China.
Good for them - after all there are many of their population who can benefit from their expertise. But one can't help but think, as was inferred in the programme, that the Chinese want to be seen to excel in the area. That they want to be looked on as a super-power in the field of science.
The professor talked about the morality of using human foetuses in the research and in treatments. His outlook was quite logical. Is it sensible to throw away valuable material which could save lives? The International Agreements which prevail state that no material should be used from foetuses older than 24 weeks, and the professor stated that all Chinese research was governed by a rule of a 16-week maximum. Chinese beliefs and philosophy - right back to Confucius - doesn't think of personality until the baby is born. That's what they believe, so to limit their research to the 16-week rule is considerably more than their cultural beliefs allow.
But of course many in the world think that a being is created at the instant of conception. President Bush seems to be among them because he has just overruled a Bill passed by Congress allowing stem cell research. I can't help thinking if this is more for political expediency than solidly-held beliefs on the part of our George. He could be thinking that the protest from the considerable Pro-Life lobby in America would be very damaging during his last term of office and he would go down in history as the "baby-murdering President".
Further into the radio programme the presenter interviewed an American MS sufferer who had gone to China for stem-cell treatment. He claimed considerable alleviation of symptoms.
I don't have any pat answers. I can see the pros and cons of both sides to an extent. But I wish someone had put my umbilical cord into deep freeze so that I might benefit if I needed it. I hope Bush can look sufferers and dying people in the eye and say that ethically it would be wrong to treat them.
Likewise I hope the Chinese professor can convince mothers who have lost their babies that good will come from their pain. And I hope that there is strict regulation of such research to prevent abuse.