Should Stem Cell Research Be Pursued?

[CoffeeSaint]

Researchers say that they have found a way to produce stem-cell lines without destroying human embryos.

The study, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, purports to have used single cells of 2- to 3-day-old human embryos (consisting of 8 to 10 cells) to produce stem-cell lines, a process that would leave the embryos themselves intact and able to survive in most cases, the research team says. The findings represent the latest advance in one of several ongoing projects seeking ways of generating stem cells without destroying embryos—an aim of some scientists due to U.S. law prohibiting federal funding of research that results in embryo destruction.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14483409/site/newsweek/

Note that this says the embryo can survive in most cases. But the question remains: should stem cell research be pursued?

As a secondary question, should stem cell research get federal funding?

 

[jamesrage]

As long as it is stem cells do not come from the destruction of embryos I am all for it.

 

[Spartacus FPV]

Dont worry, someone will still have a problem with it.

"Its playing god" or "Without disease, what will deter people from immoral acts?" or some other bull...

 

[Navy Pride]

Researchers say that they have found a way to produce stem-cell lines without destroying human embryos.


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14483409/site/newsweek/

Note that this says the embryo can survive in most cases. But the question remains: should stem cell research be pursued?

As a secondary question, should stem cell research get federal funding?

Stem cell research is being pursued already by many private industrys and limitedly by the Government.........

 

[jfuh]

Fertility clinics toss away hundreds of thousands of embryos daily for implantation treatments. Let me repeat that TOSS AWAY. Why are there ppl against the use of embryos for the persuit of science stating it's a destruction of human life and yet seemingly have no problem with fertility clinics flushing the same embryos down the toilet? Just stupid.

I'm for any and all forms of stem cell research.

 

[Navy Pride]

Fertility clinics toss away hundreds of thousands of embryos daily for implantation treatments. Let me repeat that TOSS AWAY. Why are there ppl against the use of embryos for the persuit of science stating it's a destruction of human life and yet seemingly have no problem with fertility clinics flushing the same embryos down the toilet? Just stupid.

I'm for any and all forms of stem cell research.

Well your pro abortion too so why are we not surprised?

 

[jfuh]

Well your pro abortion too so why are we not surprised?

And thus the rhetoric. Hey you're anti-choice and suppressionist.:roll:
Seriously NP, get out of your partisan well.

 

[Navy Pride]

And thus the rhetoric. Hey you're anti-choice and suppressionist.:roll:
Seriously NP, get out of your partisan well.

Now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black.....:roll:

 

[jfuh]

Now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black.....:roll:

Nice try to hijack the thread again with your partisan rhetoric NP. Now if you want to respond to me, how about answering the question I asked.
Here it is again.

Fertility clinics toss away hundreds of thousands of embryos daily for implantation treatments. Let me repeat that TOSS AWAY. Why are there ppl against the use of embryos for the persuit of science stating it's a destruction of human life and yet seemingly have no problem with fertility clinics flushing the same embryos down the toilet?

 

[SixStringHero]

Fertility clinics toss away hundreds of thousands of embryos daily for implantation treatments. Let me repeat that TOSS AWAY. Why are there ppl against the use of embryos for the persuit of science stating it's a destruction of human life and yet seemingly have no problem with fertility clinics flushing the same embryos down the toilet? Just stupid.

I'm for any and all forms of stem cell research.

I don't understand this concept either. It's already destroyed, they may as well do something with it.

 

[talloulou]

Actually this article sounds rather interesting and if it's done in the course of a test that would be done anyway then it actually sounds promising and I think I'd be okay with it.

As far as why someone would be against experimenting on embryos that will be trashed anyway.....for me its similar to asking if the county has to destroy 100 stray cats why not just give them to labs for experimentation? They're gonna die anyway. There's an element of callousness and cruelty that goes along with monkeying with human embryos.

 

[Navy Pride]

Nice try to hijack the thread again with your partisan rhetoric NP. Now if you want to respond to me, how about answering the question I asked.
Here it is again.

Whatever.......I was just responding to your attack on me....:roll:

 

[jfuh]

Whatever.......I was just responding to your attack on me....:roll:

You were? Is that what post 6 was in calling me a pro-abortionist? Just responding? When post 5 was never even directed at you? Again thank you for trying to hijack the thread. Now how about responding to the posted question?

 

[talloulou]

You were? Is that what post 6 was in calling me a pro-abortionist? Just responding? When post 5 was never even directed at you? Again thank you for trying to hijack the thread. Now how about responding to the posted question?

Hey you called me anti-science once when I wasn't even responding to anything....just up and labeled me out of the blue. So wtf are your panties all in a bunch for? There's a much stronger argument to be made for the idea that your proabortion then there is for me to be labeled anti-science.

 

[SixStringHero]

Actually this article sounds rather interesting and if it's done in the course of a test that would be done anyway then it actually sounds promising and I think I'd be okay with it.

As far as why someone would be against experimenting on embryos that will be trashed anyway.....for me its similar to asking if the county has to destroy 100 stray cats why not just give them to labs for experimentation? They're gonna die anyway. There's an element of callousness and cruelty that goes along with monkeying with human embryos.

I know what you are getting at here, but the reality is these embryos will be trashed regardless of how much it bothers people.

Why not let some good come from it?

 

[Navy Pride]

You were? Is that what post 6 was in calling me a pro-abortionist? Just responding? When post 5 was never even directed at you? Again thank you for trying to hijack the thread. Now how about responding to the posted question?

Are you pro life?

There is all kind of stem cell research going on in this country and some funded by the government.......There are a lot of scientists who believe that adult stem cells can provide the same results as the infant stem cells do...........

I can tell you I have mixed emotions on this subject......If it could be proven, and it has not been to this point, that the research being done could actually cure some of these horrible diseases I might reconsider my feelings on the issue........

 

[Sir_Alec]

I know for a fact there was already ways of doing stem-cell research without destroying embryos. Anyways, a lot of fertility research centers waste embryos all the time. I think we should just use the ones the fertility centers don't. If an embryo cannot develop into a living organism, why just throw it away? Why not use it for medical purposes instead of wasting it?

 

[CoffeeSaint]

Actually this article sounds rather interesting and if it's done in the course of a test that would be done anyway then it actually sounds promising and I think I'd be okay with it.

As far as why someone would be against experimenting on embryos that will be trashed anyway.....for me its similar to asking if the county has to destroy 100 stray cats why not just give them to labs for experimentation? They're gonna die anyway. There's an element of callousness and cruelty that goes along with monkeying with human embryos.

First, these are embryos that are only a few days old, a total of 8-10 cells, so there is no way they could feel any pain. In addition, a single embryonic stem cell can be used to start a chain that can supply stem cells to a large number of researchers, so very few embryos need to be used at all, whether they die or not.

Considering the possible uses of those stem cells, I'm not sure I see the callousness or cruelty in using unfeeling cells, in small amounts, to allow research that could potentially cure, well, almost anything.

 

[talloulou]

I know what you are getting at here, but the reality is these embryos will be trashed regardless of how much it bothers people.

Why not let some good come from it?

Well from all the research I've done it seems as though adult stem cells are more promising and scientists have yet to figure out how to get around the problems inherent with embryonic stem cells. I think the main problem is that they aren't able to inhibit growth and so the embryonic cells are way more likely to cause tumors and whatnot and thus unlikely to be used whereas this is less of a problem with the adult stem cells.

And I just don't believe in using humans as guinea pigs without their permission. In my mind an embryo is a human at the earliest stage of development. If they're never gonna have a real chance at life I prefer they be disposed of with dignity vs played with in a lab. Plus embryonic stem cells bring up moral questions that could arise in the not too distant future. They are currently working on artificial wombs. What if they do in fact succeed in that area and can raise a human fully in an artificial environment and what if that person isn't considered a person but a property of the company that grew it? And what about cloning? They are currently cloning embryos in order to have more embryos to work with. There's just many questions are society hasn't really seemed to give much thought to on the topic.

 

[talloulou]

First, these are embryos that are only a few days old, a total of 8-10 cells, so there is no way they could feel any pain. In addition, a single embryonic stem cell can be used to start a chain that can supply stem cells to a large number of researchers, so very few embryos need to be used at all, whether they die or not.

Yeah I think the chain your referring to is actually cloning which I'm hesitant to support. And I do understand that they can't feel pain but it still just seems wrong to me.

Considering the possible uses of those stem cells, I'm not sure I see the callousness or cruelty in using unfeeling cells, in small amounts, to allow research that could potentially cure, well, almost anything.

If I strongly believed the hype and felt embryonic stem cells were going to be the answer for curing almost anything then I might have a change of heart. However the current research just doesn't support that idea. Alot of it is hype with nothing much to back it up.

I sincerely believe if the government were to start throwing $$$ at embryonic stem cells as opposed to adult stem cells we'd see less cures in less time. I think researchers are more excited by the possibilities of embryonic stem cells in theory but the results aren't worth taking money from adult stem cells which actually are producing usable techniques.

 

[CoffeeSaint]

Yeah I think the chain your referring to is actually cloning which I'm hesitant to support. And I do understand that they can't feel pain but it still just seems wrong to me.

No, stem cells just divide and reproduce; without the guidance of the developing embryo, sometimes the stem cells just reproduce more stem cells, over and over and over again; that's the chain.
I understand it seems wrong, I just think that a procedure that causes no suffering, because the subject can't suffer, and that ends no lives that weren't already doomed, isn't cruel. I know the sticking point is in how the lives are ended, and I won't argue that with you.

If I strongly believed the hype and felt embryonic stem cells were going to be the answer for curing almost anything then I might have a change of heart. However the current research just doesn't support that idea. Alot of it is hype with nothing much to back it up.

I sincerely believe if the government were to start throwing $$$ at embryonic stem cells as opposed to adult stem cells we'd see less cures in less time. I think researchers are more excited by the possibilities of embryonic stem cells in theory but the results aren't worth taking money from adult stem cells which actually are producing usable techniques.

I disagree; I think the reason we're seeing results from adult stem cell research is because the money has been there, and the public support has been there. If we had spent the last five years focusing on embryonic stem cells, we'd see even more potential cures; the whole point here is that stem cells can become any other kind of cell, and as I understand it, embryonic stem cells are much more flexible than adult stem cells in that way. My hope is that more research in embryonic stem cells will show they are useful for things that adult stem cells can't do.

 

[RightinNYC]

You're missing the whole point with this poll. The big debate isn't whether embryos can be destroyed during stem-cell research (They have been and will be no matter what Bush or anyone says), but whether or not federal funding should be provided for it.

 

[CoffeeSaint]

You're missing the whole point with this poll. The big debate isn't whether embryos can be destroyed during stem-cell research (They have been and will be no matter what Bush or anyone says), but whether or not federal funding should be provided for it.

Yes, I know, but I'm more interested in people's opinions of the research itself. Asking about federal funding just degenerates into an argument over the size of government and the proper role of taxation, and the original argument gets lost in the shuffle. I did ask about federal funding as a secondary question, but most people have passed that up.

Ah, well; it's my first poll. Maybe the next will be better.

 

[RightinNYC]

Yes, I know, but I'm more interested in people's opinions of the research itself. Asking about federal funding just degenerates into an argument over the size of government and the proper role of taxation, and the original argument gets lost in the shuffle. I did ask about federal funding as a secondary question, but most people have passed that up.

Ah, well; it's my first poll. Maybe the next will be better.

:doh My bad, I completely missed your second question...guess I should practice that reading comp....:lol:

Very nice poll in that case.:2wave: