Is an embryo a human life, and what does your answer mean for the ethics of stem cell research from embryos?

Question

oh my goddess, listen to what satya says.

yeah, i agree, the first answer is looking pretty good

Answer 1

1. EGGS alone cannot start human life...

2. SPERM alone cannot start human life...

(any arguments so far???)

3. ONLY when the DNA from the SPERM
combines with the DNA from the EGG does human life BEGIN!

(any arguments so far???)


Therefore...

Once the DNA has combined and cell division starts...
HUMAN LIFE HAS BEGUN.

Once human life has begun...

Words like fetus, embryo, cell cluster, baby are nothing
more than
SEMANTICS! --- HUMAN LIFE HAS BEGUN!

Answer 2

Complicated.

But I think that "human life" (and I assume the term "human" here is meant to distinguish the particular life in question from, say, a fertilised chicken egg "life"), is not just a bunch of stem cells. That is not to say that I think an embryo does not at some stage attain "human life". But when ever that point is, I do not believe it is at the stage where the embryo is a mere cluster of non-specialised cells. I think that "human life" has to do with consciousness, the forming of a rudimentary brain, to at least begin the laying down of sensory identity pathways. 'Self' is not a few stem cells but just maybe it could be at least more rationally argued that a few neurones are.

Answer 3

Part of this is based on when life starts.

Many feel that life starts at conception, but an embryo is not viable at that point in its existance.

So, if all life is sacred, why are soldiers dying in Iraq? Aren't they important as well?

We can't have stem cell research because some embryos will die, but we can have war, even though some soldiers will die.

This rejection if stem cell research is based on a fear that has no merit to support the proposition.

Answer 4

I have read that stem cell research can also be done from umbilical cords of newborns. If this is true why isn't the umbilical cord used instead of an embryo? There are plenty of cords everyday. I believe if the research is limited to embryos only it would be murder harvesting them as I believe life begins at conception. It might not be our vision of life like walking or breathing but it is life. I have always wondered why the eggs of the sea turtles are so protected. If they are just eggs and not life (as the human embryo is considered) why does anyone care?

Answer 5

Well, of course it's human. It's not a frog, bear or wildebeest, right?

Is it life though? I'd say if we found something exactly like a human embryo swimming around under the ice on Titan, science would be crying out that we have found life on another world. Right?

So the real question is, what value do we assign to human life and when is it ok to take it? Let's look at some facts:

We often make things that are illegal outside science legal within it, for instance, it is illegal for me to torture a rat to death for fun, but scientists are allowed to torture a rat to death in order to test a drug that will "benefit mankind". So, we appear to have a consensus that benefiting mankind has a value that is above the value of an animal life at least.

We often kill people who have committed crimes against mankind so our consensus does not appear to place an ultimate value on human life. We also have war, which everyone knows takes the lives of people who do not wish to die and have not chosen to die, so, we do appear to believe there are causes worth taking human lives for.

Where does this leave us with regard to stem cell research on human embryos? Well, I think it demonstrates that it does not really matter to most of us whether a human embryo is human life if there is a high enough value to humanity to its destruction.

Honestly, I find it amazing that people argue about killing unfertilized embryos for the good of science when we kill perfectly fertilized unborn babies because they are girls!

Xan Shui,
Philosophic Philanthropist, Honest Man

Answer 6

I believe an embryo is human life. Therefore, stem cells taken from aborted fetuses is violating life. Harvesting stem cells in other ways that do not harm life, I will have to think on that. I am not sure if ebbing into genetic engineering is a good idea.

Answer 7

If you eat an egg for breakfast and it is fertilized, are you eating chicken? If you are a vegetarian (I'm not talking vegan here) are you allowed to eat a fertilized egg?

Is it better to save the life of a fetus or perform research that can save the life of many? Would people change their mind about stem cell research is someone close to them were diagnosed with a disease that could be potentially cured or made better by stem cells (see Nancy Reagan)?

Ask your self these questions and you will come up with an answer.

Answer 8

IMO it is not . Even if for a moment we consider it to be a human life, what I have to say about the anti stem cell research, is that if human life is so important what about all the humans that are dying of hunger malnutrition disease etc? And when we go to war, we say its OK to sacrifice a few lives for the benefit of the many... don't we? So what is the fuss about? In the long run stem cell research would make the quality of life better for so many people who are suffering.

Answer 9

I am pretty sure that it is not dog, cat or any other kind of animal than HUMAN. With advances in fetal science it is becoming more and more evident that the science community is becoming uncomfortable with the ethical ramifications of abortion.

ANYWAYS----regarding stem cell research. I am always confused why we are not harvesting cells from umbilical cords if everyone is so up in arms over embyronic cells. From the research I have seen---adult stem cells are just as effective for scientific purposes!

I wanted to add that Hallie below had not done sufficient research on adult stem cells and their use in research. She states that adult stem cells are very limited in their use; pehaps these articles might add clarification:

Diseases treated with ADULT Stem Cell research:
http://www.corcell.com/expectant/diseases_treated.html#current

http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/winter01/stem_cell.html

http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics4.asp

http://www.fumento.com/biotech/heart.html

Answer 10

Your reference may be to our government's decision.

How can any government in a Democracy force taxpayers to pay for private research?

The research is not BANNED. It goes on.

How many times have we heard the BELLOWING of taxpayer money benefitting the pharmaceutical industry?

Now we are bellowing in the opposite direction.

Why not let the government own all our industries? Stop free enterprise.