U.S. News & World Report; 9/4/2006, Vol. 141 Issue 8, p35-35, 1/4p Method based on IVF testing may not silence objectors Last week, scientists at Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts announced that they had found a way to make embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos-which could allow scientists to get federal funding for medical research using the cells. But the new technique may not live up to the hype. As described in the journal Nature, the cells would come from a procedure sometimes used for in vitro fertilization, in which a single cell from a very early embryo is removed and tested for defects. The new method would let that cell divide overnight, then use one daughter cell for testing and one to create new embryonic stem cell lines. The experimental cells have survived in the lab for eight months. Objections. Some stem cell opponents object to this procedure, because defective embryos are discarded. And scientists still haven't ruled out the possibility that the one cell removed from an embryo could be coaxed to develop into a new embryo on its own, making that one cell as "human" as the embryo. A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesman criticized the research last week as "gravely unethical." No one knows if research using the cells would be eligible for National Institutes of Health money, says James Battey, chair of the NIH's stem cell task force. But Robert Lanza, medical director of Advanced Cell Technology, is hopeful. "I think that we could easily quadruple the number of lines eligible for federal funding, if this were to fly."
Stem cell research is cool but im more about engineering dna and that's where your super human race is at. Somehow unlocking 100% of the human brain through dna would be cool.
dont they just use the fluid from the ...mothers stomach now they say.. its just the same or something like that
ya thats what they say so they arnt killing anymore organisms anymore now the religous people have to think of an excuse to counter that if they consider using the fluid is killing something i think its Bs because that fluid can save more lives
I believe Stem Cell Research should be controlled, not prohibited. Of course there will be risks involved, what technology doesn't have risk involved? Can anyone be sure that their mobile phone won't emit enough heat to explode while they are using it? or computer? So saying the technology is dangerous is like saying food can be toxic, eating 1kg of sugar in an hour will kill ANY HUMAN BEING, do we ban sugar all together? It won't do to ban it, consider the issue sensibly is the ONLY solution. Since not having a iron-clad control over such a volatile technology will only result in catastrophes, and prohibiting it does not work since it is like THE science of our time, devoted scientists and corporations will only buy off some island in some obscure country and do their semi-legal research anyways, it's not like the US prohibition can deter the research from progressing. So really, controlling, not avoiding.
