Stem Cell Research
...ble to repair brain cells damaged by Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, or replace injured spinal cord cells in a paraplegic. -2- What are Stem Cells? Stem cells have the ability to replicate indefinitely and morph into any kind of tissue. Stem cells are taken from human embryos only days old, stem cells are nature’s blank slates, capable of developing into any of nearly 220 cell types that make up the human body. Scientists believe they will lead to cures or diseases once thought to be untreatable. Stem cells are commonly extracted from unwanted embryos. These are typically surplus embryos that are created during medical procedures, which help infertile couples conceive. When a woman undergoes in-vitro fertilization, she is given medication that causes her to produce perhaps two dozen mature ova. These are then fertilized, usually with sperm provided by her husband. About three days later, each embryo is at the blastocyst stage, a collection of 4-10 cells (see attached paper regarding embryo to stem cell). Two to five days after fertilization, two to four embryos are implanted in the woman’s womb, in the hope that one or two will develop into a single newborn or twins. The rest are quickly deep frozen in liquid nitrogen for potential future use. These are sometimes called “pre-embryos.” They have no brain, central nervous system, mouth, heart, lungs, or other internal organs. They have no organs to see, hear, touch, taste; they lack a body, head, arms, legs; they have no self awareness, memory, thought processes, or conscious. They are smaller that a pinprick. They consist of a number of identical, undifferentiated cells containing human DNA. If left untouched to develop, they will grow into a fetus and become newborn babies. Many pro-life people believe that embryos are human persons with souls. Stem cell researchers are looking at the surplus of embryos, which are no longer wanted and will eventually become destroyed, to remove some of these embryos from liquid nitrogen storage, thaw them out, and allow them to grow to the blastocyst stage. This consists of a collection of 100 to 300 undifferentiated cells, still lacking a brain, central nervous system, mouth, and other factors as described above. Much of the debate over stem cells involves whether to allow scientist to extract stem cells from surplus, unneeded, frozen embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization procedures in fertility clinics. Extracting the stem cells kills the embryos. Stem cells have also been pulled from aborted fetuses, with consent from women who wanted to terminate their pregnancy. Proposition 71 was recently passed to support all types of stem cell research, including adult and umbilical blood cord research. Proposition 71 will now authorize tax-free state bonds that will provide an average of $295 million per year over ten years to support stem cell research at California universities, medical school and research facilities. These bonds are to be self-financing during the first five years, so there’s to be no cost to the state’s general fund during this period of economic recovery. This research is to make California a world leader in stem cell research, creating thousands of new, good paying jobs and generate an estimated $185 million in the first 10 years in new state tax revenues. The state will also have the opportunity to share in royalties resulting from the research, generating additional new state revenues for decades to come. -3- The ethical dilemma depends on the individual’s belief about human life, specifically when an embryo or fetus becomes a human person: Supporters of the pro-choice position generally believe that an embryo and a fetus are forms of human life with the potential to become a newborn baby. Most also believe that the transition from life to human personhood happens later than conception: · -Some say that it happens when the fetus loses its gill slit structures and tail, at eight weeks from conception. · -Some use the point when the fetus’ face begins to look human, at 10 weeks. · -Others believe that personhood occurs when the fetal brain has matured and first becomes conscious of itself and its surroundings, around 26 weeks. · -Some believe that personhood only starts after birth, when the newborn is separated from its mother. Most seem to treat embryos with respect, because of their potential to develop into human persons. But they do not generally regard embryos themselves to be persons. Their death does not represent a serious moral concern, particularly if humanity benefited from their death. They do not consider the killing of an embryo to be murder. Supports of the pro-life position ha...