[ars]

The reason that whole controversy basically evaporated is that embryonic stem cells have so far been useless - anything you can do with them can also be done with adult stem cells.

As far as I know there is no treatment, or even research that requires those cells vs adult ones. It also helps that there are embryonic cell lines available commercially, with no restrictions (in the US), for those who want to specifically study them and not adult ones.

So to answer your question: No, the laws are not harming anything.