Stem cell lines created without destroying embryo

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CureOrBust
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Stem cell lines created without destroying embryo

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http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=344588
In a bid to sidestep the ethical debate over the use of human embryos in medical research, scientists have developed a way to derive viable stem cell lines without harming the embryo.

They did so by extracting a single cell from the embryo — as in vitro fertilization clinics do when they test for genetic defects and introducing a common molecule called laminin to keep it in a stem cell, or pluripotent, state.

Subsequent development of the embryo was unaffected by the biopsy, according to the study published Thursday by the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The new technique holds the promise of dramatically speeding up clinical applications of stem cell therapies for a wide range of debilitating diseases and illnesses.
"Within the next few months we could make as many of these cells as we like," said Lanza, chief scientific officer at Advanced Cell Technology.
But a leading opponent of embryonic stem cell research said Lanza's method — while "morally laudable" in principal "still fails to deliver any kind of ethical solution."

"Any procedure that places at risk the health and life of a human embryo for purposes that do not directly benefit the embryo is morally unacceptable," said Reverend Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
Lyon
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Re: Stem cell lines created without destroying embryo

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Last edited by Lyon on Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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NHE
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Re: Stem cell lines created without destroying embryo

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Somehow I find it difficult to accept that leaving unused embryos left over after invitro fertilization procedures frozen in liquid nitrogen is not any different from...
Any procedure that places at risk the health and life of a human embryo for purposes that do not directly benefit the embryo is morally unacceptable
Last time I checked, being frozen in liquid nitrogen does not "directly benefit the embryo." Moreover, if I was a frozen embryo stuck in liquid nitrogen never to be used again or just destroyed, then I would most certainly want to donate myself to science and give up my stem cells. But then, an embryo is just an undifferentiated ball of cells and there is no potential for human life unless the embryo is implanted in a woman's uterus. Sometimes I really wish that people who make statements like the one quoted above would spend some time taking a few biology courses before they go off on their crusades. Certainly, using the cells to potenitially help someone is more ethical than simply destroying these left over embroys. But then, enough ranting for now.

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itsjustme
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Re: Stem cell lines created without destroying embryo

Post by itsjustme »

NHE wrote:Sometimes I really wish that people who make statements like the one quoted above would spend some time taking a few biology courses before they go off on their crusades.

But then, enough ranting for now.

NHE
When I was in college I took a whole mess of biology courses. It was kind of required as my major was Health Science. One thing I did learn, is that embroys DO spontaneously abort on their own. Heck, there isn't even a guarantee that a fetus won't miscarry.

OK. Now I have made this far too politically charged for such an otherwise amiable forum.

Yes, enough ranting for now.
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