Stem Cell research - Right or Wrong? (moral, blood, America)

[Nanda]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

Are you saying that flying an airplane is a sin? Hopefully, you are not wearing any cubic zirconia or other man made product (like your clothes). God gave us cotton but YOU, have chosen to wear the cloth of the debil: Polyester! Repent before it's too late!

I'm not saying anything of the sort, I'm just pointing out devil's advocacy.

[Scuba Pete]

If you are wearing polyester, then you are TRULY the Debil's advocate! Repent while light is still on the cotton plants.

[Reverend Rick]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

God gave us cotton but YOU, have chosen to wear the cloth of the debil: Polyester! Repent before it's too late!

As someone who had to endure the 70's, If wearing polyester is not a sin, it should be.

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

As someone who had to endure the 70's, If wearing polyester is not a sin, it should be.

I'll wager you are wearing it NOW. Polyester is in SO much. It's of the Debil, I tell you! Repent while the hand is still on the spindle! Can't you see how polyester has given birth to Stem Cell Research? It's a slippery slope my friend.

[Terrywoodenpic]

Originally Posted by Reverend Rick

As someone who had to endure the 70's, If wearing polyester is not a sin, it should be.

in the 50's and 60's we had to wear nylon shirts

[Dream Angel]

well considering I wasnt around til mid 80s I cant comment......

[Nanda]

Polyester maternity pants truly are evil... Oh yeah, let's put an enormous pregnant woman into fabric that doesn't breathe!

[Mr Spinkles]

Originally Posted by Mr Spinkles

Adult stem cells aren't as good because they are more difficult to isolate and grow in the lab, and because they do not have the potential to develop into as many different types of cells as stem cells do.

The main disadvantage to embryonic stem cell research is the limited number of cell lines allowed for federal funding in the U.S. *sigh....*

Originally Posted by Terrywoodenpic

I think your information is rather out of date..
Stem cells collected from adults are now the major source of stem cells. The US restrictions have rather left them behind in this research area.

Very little funding comes from the UK government. it is thought to be an important and financially viable area of research.

Oh, well thank you for correcting me then. To clarify: what exactly was it that I had wrong?

I did find this, from the (US) National Institutes of Health , 2006:

V. What are the similarities and differences between embryonic and adult stem cells?

Human embryonic and adult stem cells each have advantages and disadvantages regarding potential use for cell-based regenerative therapies. Of course, adult and embryonic stem cells differ in the number and type of differentiated cells types they can become. Embryonic stem cells can become all cell types of the body because they are pluripotent. Adult stem cells are generally limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin. However, some evidence suggests that adult stem cell plasticity may exist, increasing the number of cell types a given adult stem cell can become.

Large numbers of embryonic stem cells can be relatively easily grown in culture, while adult stem cells are rare in mature tissues and methods for expanding their numbers in cell culture have not yet been worked out. This is an important distinction, as large numbers of cells are needed for stem cell replacement therapies.

Although I wasn't aware of this possible advantage of adult stem cells:

A potential advantage of using stem cells from an adult is that the patient's own cells could be expanded in culture and then reintroduced into the patient. The use of the patient's own adult stem cells would mean that the cells would not be rejected by the immune system. This represents a significant advantage as immune rejection is a difficult problem that can only be circumvented with immunosuppressive drugs.