Tell me. What are your thoughts on stem cell research?

Question

We have been studying this in school lately...
Your thoughts?

Answer 1

Stem cells will save millions of people in the future, which I see as a good thing. We don't even need to use embryonic cells anymore, French scientist created a stem cell from a skin cell. So now i don't see why we aren't moving fore ward with this.

Answer 2

Scientists have found a way to turn differentiated cells back into stem cells. The problem is, cells are very, very finnicky (it's a wonder that we can reliably get them to do anything in culture). Retrodifferentiated cells sound good, but they don't behave quite like real stem cells. For the moment, the only (relatively) reliable stem cells come from embryos.

I'm opposed to the creation of embryos for the purpose of stem cell research, though. Not so much that I think that embryos are people (they're not), but because it's a slippery slope for the researchers themselves. It makes it a little too easy to push that ethical line back a little further the next time a questionable practice comes up.

As for using existing embryos, I'm all for it. A huge number of embryos created from in vitro fertilization are destroyed. This is because doctors fertilize many eggs at once, in the hope that one of them will implant and develop. The extra ones (just a ball of a few cells) are destroyed or put into storage indefinitely. Why not use them for stem cell research? The end result is the same (they are destroyed), and this way, some good can come of it.

Answer 3

Science itself has rendered this a non issue. An embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells has just been developed.

Answer 4

I don't think there anything horrible about it, its better then throwing them aways isn't it? same goes for embryo research.