I always hear about how stem cell research is bad because human life is valuable. Im not for or against anything, but what does it mean when people say that human life is too valuable and that an embryo shouldn't be destroyed. How exactly is life killed when performing stem cell research?
2006-12-12 09:15:46 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It's not. Well, it is, but it would have been anyway. The embryos they use are the "leftover" ones from fertility treatment centers. They make like 20 zygotes and implant the 6 or 7 healthiest, hoping that one will be carried to term. The others are not implanted. They have no chance to ever be born, whether they're used for research or not. They are just thrown away. So at that point, what's wrong with using them for research?
No responsible scientist would consider aborting a viable embryo just to get its stem cells. Anybody who tells you they would is either badly misinformed or they are trying to spread propaganda. Scientists aren't monsters, you know.
2006-12-12 09:22:14 · answer #1 · answered by Amy F 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unlike popular belief states, there is no connection between abortion and stem cell research. Think about it, if aborted fetuses were used, a doctor would need to perform delicate surgical techniques, and the cells would already have lost post of their pluripotency (the ability to become anything). The real source of stem cells are the left over embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics. These are the extras created by a hopeful couple, in case one fertilization fails. The extras are periodically destroyed.
Wouldn't it be better to not simply throw them away. We should respect life in the here and now. What dignity do we have were we hold a petri dish full of cells to be a higher being than a human being suffering from disease?
2006-12-12 09:23:37 · answer #2 · answered by TheBoy765 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A stem cell is grown in the one of the earliest forms of life; an embryo. To perform research on stem cells, and to grow one, doctors must remove the embryo from a mother's uterus, and place it in a petri dish. This is basically killing the poor new baby.
2006-12-12 09:19:58 · answer #3 · answered by abcd 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you cant get a need stem cells for stem cell research and a human life (usually babies) has to be ended. You cant do stem cell reasearch on a living being.
2006-12-12 09:19:57 · answer #4 · answered by cmb 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋