LDS and Stem cell research (moral, choices, choice, church)

[madhatter85]

I have heard mixed reviews on this, but i for one can not believe the LDS church would not appreciate such a wonderful scientific advancement.


Sure, we do not support having abortions because we value life. But we also tach that abortions may be neccesary in rare cases such as incest, rape, or where the mother's life in in jeopardy if she carrys the baby to full term.

These 3 clauses are scientific as well as emotional reasons to have an abortion.

Now, since people are going to have abortions no matter who cries or complains about it, Why not make lemonade out of lemons?

there is nothing you can do for an unborn fetus once it is aborted, why not put it to good use? Why constantly berate those who want to develop stem cells for use in medical applications to help cure diseases that plague our society, or help speed up the recovery of people who have gone through severe trauma?

Even if you disagree with abortion, why would you waste such an opportunity to bring some good out of it, when abortions are going to happen no matter how much protesting is done?

[Ringer]

I'm not part of the LDS group but I think this questions can be asked to all Christians. Why even question the morality of embryonic stem cell research when the same results can be achieved using adult stem cells?

From what I understand, adult stem cell research is showing significant promise and the ability for adult stem cells to be developed into other tissue cells is well documented.

Something just doesn't sit right with me when you condemn abortions but then are willing to attempt to reap the benefits by putting your morality on the back burner. I say, lets put our energies into developing the technology without having to sacrifice our morality in the process.

[3.14]

its not just the stam cells its if its allowed then where do you draw the line

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by madhatter85

I have heard mixed reviews on this, but i for one can not believe the LDS church would not appreciate such a wonderful scientific advancement.


Sure, we do not support having abortions because we value life. But we also tach that abortions may be neccesary in rare cases such as incest, rape, or where the mother's life in in jeopardy if she carrys the baby to full term.

These 3 clauses are scientific as well as emotional reasons to have an abortion.

Now, since people are going to have abortions no matter who cries or complains about it, Why not make lemonade out of lemons?

there is nothing you can do for an unborn fetus once it is aborted, why not put it to good use? Why constantly berate those who want to develop stem cells for use in medical applications to help cure diseases that plague our society, or help speed up the recovery of people who have gone through severe trauma?

Even if you disagree with abortion, why would you waste such an opportunity to bring some good out of it, when abortions are going to happen no matter how much protesting is done?

I could be wrong - but I don't think a lot of stem-cell research is being done on aborted fetus(es?). It is mostly done on fetus(es?) that are created in a lab.

Also, it seems like a lot of the recent advances are from studying adult stem cells anyway.

[madhatter85]

they have been making advances in stem cell research using embryos that are created in labs but the problem with those is that the embryo dies before it produces enough stems cells to be of much value.

Adult stem cells they are suing a retro-virus to reverse skin cells back into T-cells, but these don't have the same makeup as stem-cells found in an aborted fetus.

They have known for along time that best way to study them is by using aborted fetus's but these protesting groups keep trying to end using them for research when it is no different than being an organ donor or donating your body to science.

It's not setting aside your morality, it's called making use of something that is not so great that is happening anyways.

example, someone has an abortion despite the so called "morality" of it. the embryo now has absolutely NO use except for studying and research. so, why waste it? it was the mother's choice to have the abortion, the morality issue is on the woman now, and the morality of the fetus is now moot for the ones doing the studying.....

Why waste opportunities to learn more from other's choices?

[3.14]

i don't appriciate there stance on abortions but i realise why they do it
and wel obstacles like those people make life intrestting

[madhatter85]

Originally Posted by 3.14

i don't appriciate there stance on abortions but i realise why they do it
and wel obstacles like those people make life intrestting

no, they cause things to drag on forever and ever while people die to things we could have been curing for years..

[heavyarms553]

From what I understand, adult stem cell research is showing significant promise and the ability for adult stem cells to be developed into other tissue cells is well documented.

Adult stem cells aren't useful at all to current research. They lack a large degree of multipotency which is what researchers want. They have been successfully differentiated into white and red blood cells, but they will not develop into nerve cells which is what is currently desired. Thats why they are used for bone marrow transplants. Their usefulless in medicine has been tapped, for the time being.

Even if you disagree with abortion, why would you waste such an opportunity to bring some good out of it, when abortions are going to happen no matter how much protesting is done?

Fetal stem cells are equivalent in developmental faculties to cord blood stem cells. The additional difficulties in harvesting them, coupled with the moral and political debate surrounding them makes them very unappealing to researchers when much easier alternatives are available.

they have been making advances in stem cell research using embryos that are created in labs but the problem with those is that the embryo dies before it produces enough stems cells to be of much value.

Adult stem cells they are suing a retro-virus to reverse skin cells back into T-cells, but these don't have the same makeup as stem-cells found in an aborted fetus.

They have known for along time that best way to study them is by using aborted fetus's but these protesting groups keep trying to end using them for research when it is no different than being an organ donor or donating your body to science.

What in the heck? Do you even know what you are talking about? That makes absolutely no sense at all.

they have been making advances in stem cell research using embryos that are created in labs but the problem with those is that the embryo dies before it produces enough stems cells to be of much value.

Embryonic stem cells are EXACTLY what researchers want to study. You are completely wrong.

Adult stem cells they are suing a retro-virus to reverse skin cells back into T-cells, but these don't have the same makeup as stem-cells found in an aborted fetus.

Do you know what a stem cell is? Do you know what a retrovirus is? A T-Cell? Skin cells have already differentiated. There is no way to force them to develop into any other type of cell other than skin. You can culture them to make skin grafts, but that is it.

Retroviruses use an enzyme known as reverse transcriptase to synthesize new viral DNA in vitro from viral RNA. You can use lysogenic retroviruses to insert genes into a host's DNA, but that is useful for chemical and drug synthesis, not creating new cells.

T-Cells are a type of white blood cell. They are used in the body to fight off infection and have nothing to do with stem cells at all.

The most successful use of adult stem cells comes from bone marrow. It is used to create white and red blood cells for blood and marrow transfusions to help cancer patients. Thats all adult stem cells can do for now. End of story.

The stem cells that researchers are interested in are embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells do not come from fetuses. They are cultured in labs from fertilized eggs. They never achieve even a modicum of consciousness and those who oppose their use should take a good hard look at both the cells they fight so hard to protect, and the people who suffer from degenerative diseases who could benefit from stem cell research.

Abortions have NOTHING to do with stem cell research. Absolutely nothing.