I agree; there are many important issues other than those brought forward by those of a religious bent. However, the majority of said issues (chief among which is the potential for misuse) are not being addressed by the general population because we all seem to have been blinded by an unjustified moral outrage against something that most people know very little about. Obviously that is a problem because it leads people to make irrational decisions or to simply ignore the situation, whatever it may be.
I’m of the opinion that once we reach the point where stem-cell research can no longer be associated in ANY way (even indirectly or dare I say falsely) with ‘killing unborn children’ then we will all begin to realise that it is a field that offers fantastic returns, and we will begin to deal with these real issues properly.