Why won't John Danforth say EMBRYONIC stem cell research?

Question

Isn't this Episcopal minister and former U.S. Senator, who calls them "early stage stem cells" just another liar who won't face the facts about destroying human life at conception? The private lab that almost fully funded the push for an amendment to Missouri's Constitution for this purpose now realizes how many Missourians oppose taxation for this doubtful research on moral grounds and is going out of state for more money.

Those who accuse me of being a "bible thumper" fail to realize or admit that Episcopal minister John Danforth, widely thought of by his lawyer colleagues as a "nice man but not very bright", aligned himself with the interests of one private laboratory and has supported embryonic stem cell research, which is opposed by the Catholic and Lutheran churches (and others) as being immoral. His use of the phrase "early stage stem cell research" is just an attempt to avoid or "negotiate" the question of morality.

Answer 1

why won't he say "murder"?

Answer 2

A blastocyst (the ball of cells equaling about 50 - 150 in number that embryonic stem cells are taken from) is not a human life... it just has the potential for human life. Accidentally cutting your finger kills more cells than a blastocyst even has. It never amazes me to see just how delusional you bible-thumpers tend to be. Because of your warped ideals, you align yourself against scientific progress that has the real potential to improve the real lives of actual humans. And why? Because you blindly follow the corrupt teachings of your hypocritical religious leaders, which are so far from the original teachings of the great mortal man Jesus Christ that, if he were still in existence today, he'd be appalled and outraged at how you've perverted his ideals. You people really should stop shaping your lives are a book of fiction that is an interpretation of an interpretation of a small collection of religious stories that were gathered by the New Church many many years after the death of Jesus to further the agendas of the religious leaders of the time (maybe you should try reading some of the original "gospels" that weren't allowed into the collection). And most of you don't even try to make your own interpretations, rather, you blindly swallow whatever you're fed by those who have power over you. You people are impeding the progress of science and medicine and causing good people to suffer needlessly. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Answer 3

Because he isn't talking about stem cells that come from embryos--he's talking about stem cells that do not. He just hasn't been able to get this across to the public. Since these researchers never use embryo cells, they DON'T destroy human life soon after conception. This is so good! You should love it! What's happened is they found they could also get stem cells from a patient's own bone marrow or any other tissues where newly-formed cells have just started to divide. Here' s what: "Early stage" does not mean the early stage of human life--that's your answer--but the early stage of cell division, cells that can never grow into a baby. Read about it on the internet and you'll see this is true. To say it again: "Early stage" has nothing whatever to do with embryos or with destroying human life but means CELLS that are IN AN EARLY STAGE OF DIVISION. People think it means a LIFE that's in an early stage. A bone marrow cell cannot grow into a human being so no life is destroyed. It's life saving research, not life destroying research.

Answer 4

There is continuing work in deriving stem cells of different sorts, from sources other than embryos. I have noticed that the 'right to lifers' steadfastly refuse to acknowledge this, or digest the news at all. I could appreciate the philosophy represented by not wanting to harvest them from fetal tissue, though I disagree with it. But when I see them cross their arms and refuse to accept that there are other more benign sources for this material, I see that they are dead set against medical progress and I tune out all the rest of their message.

I really do wish these folks would quit gumming up the progress of science.

Answer 5

Because embryonic stem cells are not the same as early stage stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells come from embryos. And most are re-grown from existing stem cell lines, so no new embryos are being used in the process.

Early stage stem cells may come from blastocysts that have not become embryos, from embryoes that were miscarried, or from lining cells taken during the pregnancy without terminating the pregnancy.

So the two terms are not interchangeable.

Answer 6

Why won't anyone just say, "death of fetuses"?