As stated by Porthos, the embryos that would just got to waste otherwise are better put to stem cell research, as it means they have a use. Stem cells have incredible potential, the idea that we could replace body parts is incredible. We are learing to replicate the miricles of jesus, just as his diciples did after he returned to heaven, in what way is this contrary to the Bible? Didn't jesus want us to be his diciples?
[[User:Jesusfollower|Jesusfollower]] 22:16, 13 April 2008 (EDT)
Stems cells are both difficult to work with and to understand. It may surprise some of you, but established embryonic stem cell lines have been around since the late seventies. The line I do some work with, HEK-293 cells, was established from a kidney from an aborted fetus in 1978, in the Netherlands. It's gruesome to think about, but HEK cells (HEK stands for human embryonic kidney cells) are used throughout neurobiology and electrophysiology for experimentation. The problem with stem cells is keeping them as stem cells - they like to change, depending on their environment. They also have a high probability of becoming cancerous outside of the body (ie in tissue culture), due to over expression of telomerase. We don't know much about what makes a stem cell differentiate, that is why so many of the original stem cell lines established in the US are useless now - they became contaminated, or differentiated. How we get more stem cells is a difficult question - arguably much of the research that could/would use human stem cells could use those of chimpanzees, as they are so genetically similar to us. Personally I think anything that would be thrown out otherwise (medical waste, cord blood, unused IVF embryos) should be used to establish more stem cell lines, as cracking the stem cell differentiation puzzle will hopefully solve more lives than it could ever harm.
[[UserAWHall|AWHall]] 16:09, 20 May 2008 (EDT)
[[Category:Conservapedia Essay]]