Ah, bad person to ask, as i do genetics in uni
I'm all for it.
Okay. I understand that many people believe that as the embryo in the stem cell (is that correct???) dies when the stem cell is extracted, then it is murder.
Since there are so many thousands of stem cells hanging about here and there, waiting to be discarded or lose quality, I'm all for preserving them, turning them into babies and letting those who object to stem cell research adopt them all
Ok, stem cells 101
Stem cells have two major characteristics. They have the potential to form any type of cell, and they can undergo numerous cell divisions.
There are two types - adult stem cells, and embryonic stem cells.
Adult Stem Cells
Act as a repair system for your body. Ever wondered how new blood cells form? Well a stem cell will divide in two, one will result in a new stem cell and the other will divide into a blood cell. This happens in all types of cell - nerve, tissue, skin, blood...
Embryonic Stem Cells
The main topic of controversy. Embryonic Stem (ES) cells divide in the developing embryo to form every single cell type, they do this throughout development but the area of interest is in the blastula stage.
When a sperm and egg combine, they result in a single cell. This one cell divides, and then there two cells divide to form 4 cells. This is called a morula. Divisions continue to form 120-140 cells (blastula!!) this is 5 days after the sperm enters the egg and these are arranged to form a "ring structure" with a load of cells inside it. The Embryonic stem cells we hear so much about are taken from a particular region inside this ring structure.
The controversy behing ES cells is that an embryo needs to be grown for 5 days to let the cells develop enough to be useful, and then when the useful cells are extracted then this is seen as murder.
I honestly don't think this is murder. How can a block of 50-150 cells have a soul? So many ES cells go to waste when couples have IVF, why not use these "Potential human beings" to save "actual human beings".
The worst things is that when these ES cells are extracted from the 5 day old cell mass, they can be grown and grown to make more ES cells with no human association which could potentially cure tens of people, maybe even more.
This hybrid embryo in the news lets an animal cell grow, then they take out all the DNA and contents of the cell, and replace it with human contents. People think of the word "hybrid" as a combination of animal and human, whereas it is actually like taking the contents out of a sandwich box and replacing it with new stuff. It wont even effect the new contents - i dont know what all the fuss is about. Personally, should my mother ever get ill then i want EVERYTHING to be done for her.
Get it? teehee xx