Ron Reagan's emotionally manipulative speech at the DNC was riddled with half-truths and obfuscation. Without ever explicitly saying so, he advocated not merely the use of "disposable" human embryos from fertility industry labs, but the creation of human embryo cloning factories. Of course, he never once mentioned the very promising medical results that have already been obtained from adult, bone marrow, and umbilical cord stem cell research: http://www.stemcellresearch.org
stem sell research scares the crap out of me. Playing God with actual life. Abortion is horrible now this! But that just my believes. And i'm sure the majority in this immoral world will disagree with me.
people are sooo afraid of human's being cloned but if you take a few simple human biology classes... you would understand that stem cell research has a GREAT possibility to saving people's lives with bad diseases like cancer and aids and for cures for diseases. the scientific community wishes you use stem cell research to better life, not to clone humans.
Stem Cell research is what's gonna save this planet. we could possibly cure AIDS with this science. But all the conservatives dont want that. All that possible white DNA being used to save non-whites. Donated embryos that could be born and grow up to be white conservatives being wasted on saving Africans and Asians and women.Oh the horror of it all!!!! Cure cancer???? NO NOT THAT!!! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!! if trying to save people's lives in immoral....then I'd rather be a blood-drinking satanist then part of any group that claims to be moral. Huck Binn as usual, you can take your high-horsed dribble and kiss my otter ass.
I'm glad to see such well-informed, reasoned responses. It's obvious that people here have thoughtfully engaged the material provided on the web site I listed above . . .
Here's another site that briefly summarizes stem cells: http://www.facsnet.org/tools/sci_tech/biotek/lanza.php3 A technique may become available where the embryo is tricked into thinking it has been fertilized. Stem cells then grow and are harvested. Any thoughts on this? Ethical? Unethical? Taking of human life?
You mean the ovum is tricked. Embryos can't be fertilized; they are the result of fertilization/cloning. If ova could truly be "tricked" into producing stem cells, then I wouldn't see any reason to object. However, as noted in several articles on the stemcellresearch.org site, extracting ova from women is neither easy nor painless, so I don't see this hypothetical technology taking off anytime soon.
i totally agree with you otter.... like you said, curing diseases is such a BAD thing. it's horrifying.
Just think, if we cure cancer, diabetes and other assorted diseases, the drug companies would lose billions in profits, because the public would no longer need to buy their expensive super drugs. Is it possible the drug companies are lobbying Bush to stand firm on his no-stem-cell-research policy???
Every technology was hypothetical at one point. There are also difficulties with extracting a sufficient number of stem cells from umbilical blood as there would be from tricked ova. Therapeudic cloning is one attempt to tackle the problem of insufficient numbers of stem cells. The production of stem cells from ova tricked into thinking they were fertilized is not an ethical problem for some. Anyone care to clearly define what exactly they think is unethical? I would say that one definition would be that it is unethical to harvest stem cells from anything that could have the potential to become a human being, no matter what technique was used to fertilize it, natural, technically tricked, etc. Any thoughts? What about harvesting stem cells from naturally defective embryos that would not lead to a viable human being? Ethical or not?
and its not just diseases that this research can help - there are also numerous disorders out there where all of the research thus far have hit the dead end. One example that comes to mind is tourettes syndrome. For extreme cases, there is no cure and the drugs to supress this disorder are inneffective. One of my good friends and a roomate of mine for over a year has this degree of tourettes. He can't eat in public restaurants, go to college, numerous things that most everyday people take for granted. Anything in a public setting he is treated as disturbing the peace with his outbursts. I've watched him be arrested for behaviors that he can't control - ignorant police officers not believing that he has this condition, handcuffing him and taking him away. So, now, he drives a delivery van - a job that required no college degree and has minimal public interaction. You don't think he'd give anything just to be able to live a normal everyday life? Most researches feel that a cure can be discovered through stem cell research. IF STEM CELL RESEARCH IS UNETHICAL, PLAYING GOD AS THOSE OPPOSED TO IT OFTEN SAY, THEN ALL MEDICAL RESEARCH IS UNETHICAL AND AGAINST THE WAYS OF NATURE.
people are capable of anything...especially greedy corporate nitwits and dingdong presidents. sorry I did not mean to insult the ding dong which is a most tasty cake snack.
Please clarify the above. Current human stem cell research relies on harvesting ova, fertilizing them, and allowing them to grow until there are stem cells. An ova tricked into producing stem cells would be much the same except that it would not be fertilized. Cloning of embryos is another option that is becoming available that would increase the number of stem cells that could be harvested without continuously extracting ova.
Huck...you act as if the women donating their eggs are being strapped down and held against their will as some maniac sticks a huge needle into their belly and sucks away all their eggs. Those women volunteered and women donate eggs everyday in the country for both family planning(for infertile couples..she donates eggs like men donate sperm)and they donate eggs for research. Whatever pain they get(discomfort really as opposed to pain..and that comes after the lidocaine wears off)they were prepared for because they VOLUNTEERED. As for the ethics of creating embryos and cloning embryos for stem cell research. I value a living,existing person with Alzheimers or paralyzation or AIDS more then I value a potential organism that's the size of a dime...human DNA does not a person make. so yeah..it's ethical. It's time that more people started caring more about the people already here on earth..then they do about an embryo.
Did this little posting have anything to do with Franics Crick dying yesterday? If so booooooo!!! The reason nobody has approached that link is because it provides little in the way of actual reference to the potential of stem cell research, the science behind it, and is mostly propaganda for the bio-ethics lobbies, while most of its points are obscured in pages of sometimes rational dialouge. Most of the already harvested embryos aren't being used for research, and so far much of the advances in stem cell research have come from somatic (adult) stem cells, but that doesn't mean this research should be limited from using embryonic stem cells, not only the potential is real, but much work has already been done from embryonic stem cells. Embyonic stem cells are more resitant to immune rejections which plauge somatic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells can also proliferate much more efficiently helping to produce sufficient quantities for research and medicine. For more info, visit the credible national institute of health's (NIH) web resources: http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp
I believe debating the ethics of stem cell research, is like debating abortion. Most of those who are pro-choice are pro stem cell research, and anti-choicers are anti research. Just stating the obvious I guess. But as a woman, I could never donate my eggs in order to create a baby for a complete stranger (via an egg bank) and always wonder if that child I helped to create anonymously, was growing up loved and nurtured. However, I believe I COULD donate my eggs in order to create a petri dish full of cells, which could possibly help enrich another human beings life be giving them renewed health. (I have 40+ yr. old eggs though.......practically scrambled by now I 'spose)
How foolish of me to hope for substantive discourse here, rather than the typically hallow sloganeering and meaningless ad hominem attacks.
*snicker* Look Huck Binn makes up words like Dubya does. oh..and he attempts to use a fancy word like "ad hominem". let us laugh at his expense.
