Stem Cell Research Philosophy Presentation Intro

[Air420]

Someone should have destroyed the Bush embryos.

[yahooveritas]

Did you know that every current treatment for various types of cancers and diseases are derived from adult stem cells? Do you know how many current treatments are derived from embryonic stem cells? NONE! Embryonic stem cells are very difficult to control and usually turn into tumors. Adult stem cells: yes! Embryonic Stem cell research: NO!

[Radetzky19]

@yahooveritas you are an idiot. What kind of propaganda are you advocating/

[yahooveritas]

I am not an idiot & you clearly demonstrate that by delivering an ad hominem attack; if you disagree with my argument then point out the weaknesses in it. Since you didn't, then that means that my argument is very good. :)

[Radetzky19]

@yahoo no it is not good because you say that embryonic stem cell research can contribute nothing when actually it can contribute alot. IT holds top medical promise. The Bush admin banning embryonic stem cell research wasted precious time on finding possible cures. lol

[yahooveritas]

Kid, what promise? Embryonic stem research has produced nothing. All therapeutic treatments available are from stem cells from cord blood, and in Japan there is a promising experiment in which scientists are now able to revert skin cells to stem cells. Embryonic stem cell research must be stopped.

[HunnybearinYOgrill]

@yahooveritas

Adult stem cells are very beneficial but they are not the same type of cells as embryonic. The promise with embryonic is that they are totipotent cells and can be used for any cell in the body whereas adult stem cells are multipotent can only produce a limited number of cell types.

[yahooveritas]

I understand that but in light of the fact that there are experiments currently being conducted in Japan in reversing skin cells into stem cells, which are totipotent, then why continue with a questionable & unethical approach in acquiring stem cells?

[HunnybearinYOgrill]

that sounds very interesting and I would love to see some information about this can you provide a link to a credible source?

[Radetzky19]

@ yahoo Um no Hunnybearin is actually right and it is a fact that embryonic stem cell research holds top medical promise. You obviously have a preconceived agenda because you are not adhering to facts. And you say embryonic stem cell research must be stopped? You know how many scientists will laugh at you? There is no reason for it to be stopped.

[yahooveritas]

Furthermore, I know that embryonic research has not made any compelling achievements because Fr. Tad Pacholczyk knows a lot abou this. He has a Ph.D. from Yale in Neuroscience & did post doctoral research at Harvard Medical.

[Radetzky19]

First of all that is only one doctor. Peer reviewed assessments of many scientists and doctors hold and conclude that embryonic stem cell research holds top medical promise. And yes achievements were made and to use the excuse that "embryonic research has not made any compelling achievements" is absurd because if we relied on that premise nothing in the med field would be discovered! There are certain cancers we know vaguely about but that does not stop us from researching.

[jameskirkland]

the church has gone mad. bush is mad. or is it evil. this is not the middle ages. the world is not flat. these men of power are so frightening. i pray sweden or norway lead the way. america is lost.

[foto101]

The problem is money. they don't give a fucking shit about america or americans. They have to privatize the money made, just liek privatizing the war. Think of the triilions of dollars lost to medications... Those companies won't "go without a fight." Of course he won't allow it, he would be losing money! OMG, it's not that hard to understand.

I think our only hope is that the cures are found in foreign lands where we can go to be healed.

[sweeetra3]

a ball of cells is not human, it has to turn into a human. so it doesnt think nor has any feelings. jesus gave his life to save ours, scientists are doing the same with embrionic cells to save thousands who need help. Once we find the cure, every one will notice that it was worth it, THAT IT WAS WORTH IT.

[Proneural]

How is a ball of cells a human being? I don't get it...

[BoyGenteel]

Proneural, as we know from science textbooks and encyclopedias, when a sperm cell fertilizes an ovum, the result is a new, unique human being. That's a scientific fact.

[BoyGenteel]

The problem is: so many are taking a non-scientific, romanticized view of what it means to be a human being that they mistakenly believe that one has to have freckles, braces, and a ponytail to qualify as a human being.

[BoyGenteel]

But everyone reading this was once that "ball of cells." In contrast, no one was a sperm or an ovum, because science has made it clear that fertilization is the point at which a new life begins, not implantation, birth, when the fetus begins to look cute, or any other arbitrary point.

[Proneural]

How is a ball of cells a human being? Just because it shares the same DNA as I do does not mean that it is a human being. A ball of cells has no capacity for pain, thought, or anything that would make it any different than any other group of cells that shares my DNA code, like the thousands of skin cells I lose every day.

[Proneural]

It because you believe that this ball of cells has a "soul", that you ascribe the name "human" to it. However, this is simply a matter of religious belief, which is outside the realm of science.

[BoyGenteel]

"Soul"? Proneural, you're obviously confused. "Souls" are a religious concept; I am dealing with scientific facts. Science, not religion, demonstrates that fertilization brings about a new human being. A skin cell is not a human being, but a human embryo is. In order for somatic cell nuclear transfer to occur, your skin cell must be combined with an oocyte to become a human being; an embryo need not be combined with anything, because (s)he already IS a human being.

[Proneural]

How is a fertilized egg the same as a human being? It what way is it really different than a skin cell? By the methylation patterns of its DNA? By which genes it has turned on or off? A fertilized egg is a single cell, just as the many skin cells I lose every day. It has no recognizable human qualities other than its shared genetic code. Maybe you should provide some reasoning for your assertions.

[BoyGenteel]

I'll be glad to.

It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and the resulting mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual." -- Human Embryology, Bradley M. Patten

[BoyGenteel]

"The cell results from fertilization of an oocyte by a sperm and is the beginning of a human being." -- Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. [Moore, Keith L. and Persaud, T.V.N.4th edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1993, p. 1]

[Proneural]

Yes, I'm sure most people are familiar with how an egg becomes fertilized. How does that make it a human being? It is still a single cell, just like an egg and a sperm, only combined. Does that automatically make it a human being? If I combine a vial of 10,000 sperm with a vial of 10,000 eggs , shake it around a little, and then smash it on the ground, have I just committed mass murder? Give me a break.

[BoyGenteel]

Here are a few citations that are more specific:

"Fertilization is that wondrous moment that marks the beginning of life for a new unique individual." -- Biology of Gestation, Dr. Louis Fridhanler

[BoyGenteel]

"Fertilization is that wondrous moment that marks the beginning of life for a new unique individual." -- Biology of Gestation, Dr. Louis Fridhanler

[BoyGenteel]

"Your true beginning was a split-second event when a single spermatozoon, one of millions of sperm cells from your father, joined an ovum (egg cell), one of the several hundred thousand ova produced and stored in your mother's body during her lifetime." -- Human Development, Diane E. Papalla and Sally Wendkos Olds

[Proneural]

How is a fertilized egg equivalent to a fully-developed individual?

[BoyGenteel]

Not fully developed, just complete. None of us is "fully developed" until we're dead. Only then do our life cycles cease. Prior to that, we're still developing, whether embryos, fetuses, newborns, children, adolescents, adults, et cetera.

[Proneural]

A fertilized egg is just as "alive" just as one of my skin cells is alive. It can grow and divide, just like a skin cell, or a bone marrow cell. But just because it develops into a human being does not mean it IS a human being. It has no capacity for thought, pain, feeling, or anything that would merit qualifying it as a human being.

[BoyGenteel]

See, you're still very much confused. A human embryo isn't merely "alive" -- as our skin cells are -- but he or she is also a human being. Did you miss the above text? We didn't begin our lives as skin cells, but we DID begin them when a sperm fertilized an ovum.

[Proneural]

How can a single cell be a human being? A single cell cannot think, feel etc. Have YOU read the above discussion? You have not answered my questions.

[BoyGenteel]

Think? Feel? Now you're applying wholly unscientific criteria for what constitutes a human being.

[Proneural]

There are no known criteria for what it takes to be a human being. However, I think that it is pretty clear that in order to be considered a human being, one must at least have a semi-functional brain. Chimpanzees are more human than a fertilized egg- at least they can think and feel pain.

[annsebastiann]

Hello, I think the collage is quite OK, but, and sorry if it is too abrupt, the background music makes the audibility of the mix not only worse but also superficially dramatic and grandiose (sounds like 1492 film music rather than an intro to stem cell research discussions). Just an opinion.

Anna