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Why is it unethical to harvest stem cells from aborted fetuses?
Although tissue from aborted fetuses can be used without moral complicity in the underlying abortion, obtaining stem cells from embryos necessarily kills them, thus raising difficult questions about the use of embryonic human material to save others.
What are the arguments for stem cell research?
Stem cell research offers great promise for understanding basic mechanisms of human development and differentiation, as well as the hope for new treatments for diseases such as diabetes, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, and myocardial infarction.
Why stem cell research should not be allowed?
Some opponents of stem cell research argue that it offends human dignity or harms or destroys human life. Proponents argue that easing suffering and disease promotes human dignity and happiness, and that destroying a blastocyst is not the same as taking a human life.
Why could research on embryos be useful?
Research with embryonic stem cells may lead to new, more effective treatments for serious human ailments and alleviate the suffering of thousands of people. Diseases such as juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, heart failure and spinal cord injuries are examples.
Why do researchers prefer to use embryonic stem cells?
Additionally, under defined conditions, embryonic stem cells are capable of propagating themselves indefinitely. This allows embryonic stem cells to be employed as useful tools for both research and regenerative medicine, because they can produce limitless numbers of themselves for continued research or clinical use.
Why stem cells can be obtained as a result of IVF?
An embryonic stem cell line is a population of cells that can grow and divide indefinitely outside the body, providing a source of cells for scientists conducting stem cell research. During the IVF process, specialists work to identify embryos most likely to yield a healthy baby.
Who supports stem cell research?
Stem cell research is just one form of promising research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest public funder of biomedical science, supports many kinds of research offering opportunities to advance knowledge.
How many embryos are destroyed for stem cell research?
For every embryo that is donated to others, more than 100 embryos are discarded. Currently, more than 400,000 embryos are frozen in fertility clinics, and most will eventually be discarded.
Why do researchers prefer to use embryonic stem cells instead of adult stem cells?
Embryonic stem cells have the ability to create any cell type in the human body. Adult stem cells are more specialized; they generally make cells only from their tissue of origin. Thus, embryonic stem cells can do things that adult stem cells cannot do.
Why can’t researchers just use adult stem cells instead?
Although research into adult stem cells is promising, adult stem cells may not be as versatile and durable as are embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells may not be able to be manipulated to produce all cell types, which limits how adult stem cells can be used to treat diseases.