Stem Cell Research

[Natman]

I am anti-abortion. I am also of the belief that life does begin at conception. But there comes a question of where one can do the greater good. An embryo sitting in cold storage at an IVF clinic is not suffering. A child in an orphanage in Siberia or China, a child in foster care, bounced from home to home, a baby born to a mother addicted to drugs, who abandons the child at the hospital, these children are already suffering. They need a home now. If one cares so much for human life, one ought think of them before one thinks of a proto-human yet unaware of its environment. For me, if the choice is between letting a child catch and die of tuberculosis in some third-world orphanage, and letting an embryonic child never see awareness of the world, well, I will choose to help the child who is already sentient and aware.

I would tend to agree with you. The problem we have, particularly here in "capitalist" America, is that by doing so ,we set a precident that human life is a cheap commodity and thereby encourage the creation and destruction of even MORE human beings.

Until recently, I did not realize that IVF required the fertilization of hundreds of eggs. Now I find it to be almost as bad as abortion.

Son-cerely,
Nate

 

[Ave Maria]

What's more ethical than research that may find potential cures for debilitating and severe diseases? Yes, it is ethical. I am in favor and do support both embryonic stem cell research and all other stem cell research.

 

[Dimithriceas]

Completly ethical... both adult, and embryonic. Most of them are going to be thrown out anyways... Why not make something of the ones that are going to be thrown out. We can donate our bodys to science, why not let these few cells have a chance at helping people live.

 

[chessterbester]

My dad would be six feet under if not for stem cell research. I guess you could say I was for it.

 

[Ave Maria]

Completly ethical... both adult, and embryonic. Most of them are going to be thrown out anyways... Why not make something of the ones that are going to be thrown out. We can donate our bodys to science, why not let these few cells have a chance at helping people live.

I agree. Invitro fertilization techniques produce a lot of extra embryos that would just otherwise be thrown away. Why not let their existence mean something and let them go towards research to find cures for debilitating diseases?

 

[xtxArchxAngelxtx]

I don't have a problem with stem cell research or embryonic cell research.

Most people tend to say it is immoral simply because we are trying to play God... I disagree.

God made us from dirt... Now if we can create living tissue from dirt, then that is a different story.

 

[Natman]

My dad would be six feet under if not for stem cell research. I guess you could say I was for it.

How far under would he be if it weren't for EMBRYONIC stem cell research?

Answer: He'd still be six feet under.

Embryonic Stem Cell research has not saved a single life of cured a single disease as of yet and billions have already been poured into it.

Son-cerely,
Nate

 

[Monica02]

So why isn't virto infertilization not a big morality issue, while the notion embryonic research is, if through virto there are actually embryos being destroyed everyday?

IVF is condemned by the Catholic Church.

 

[Aimee30]

Depends on how it's done, I guess.

I guess I would prefer they use already dead embryos if possible or try to find another source of cells.

But I won't say any more on this as I have yet to research the procedure.

 

[Ave Maria]

You know, I keep hearing people saying that embryonic stem cell research is useless and that we should instead go for adult stem cell research. Well, this is frankly either a lie or a misguided statement. I just read an article in the December issue of Popular Science that is about stem cell research titled "Banking on Biotechnology" "Can private industry revitalize embryonic stem-cell research in the U.S.?" One part of the article states that in October, Israeli scientists repaired damaged pig hearts with injections of human embryonic stem cells! This could be a big step towards the creation of biological pacemakers according to the article. U.K. researchers are closing in on a method to grow insulin producing cells to treat diabetes also. The facts are that embryonic stem cells are also valuable for research and could very well lead to treatments for dibilitating diseases in the future. The same article is available online here:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/article/0,20967,782687,00.html