[smhatahy]

Originally Posted by elijah77jc

well let me inform you a little bit on stem cell research

(this may not be 100% accurate but this is how i understand it)

when an egg is fertilized it begins to divide over and over and it forms a hollow ball of cells called the blastula. all of these cells are the same and will soon become you and this is where the stem cells come in. a stem cell is a cell that can become any type of cell (muscle, nerve, blood) and they form at this point in development. now in stem cell research, this is where they terminate the pregnancy and harvest the stem cells to be used for whatever.

so if you believe that life begins at conception, then yes, it is very unethical.

hmmm.. i believe.. i dunno, soo confusing, i cant think right now

[elijah77jc]

Originally Posted by Akshay626

hmmm.. i believe.. i dunno, soo confusing, i cant think right now

lol well basically, in order to get stem cells to research with, you have to terminate a pregnancy before the embryo is formed.

so the ethical dilemma: is it ok to take life in order to save it?

[smhatahy]

Originally Posted by elijah77jc

lol well basically, in order to get stem cells to research with, you have to terminate a pregnancy before the embryo is formed.

so the ethical dilemma: is it ok to take life in order to save it?

but if your saying there is life in a clump of cells, then we're killing gadjillions of lives everyday. It has the potential to be life but it is not yet life, embryo is when life begins..

[elijah77jc]

eggs and sperm do have the potential to become life, but once the sperm combines with the egg, that is where life begins.
if you kill a sperm or an egg cell there is no harm done because there is no "life" there. once they combine (conception) they start the process of forming a human being. i guess you could call a blastula "the embryo of the embryo" because if you stop the pregnancy there, it is no different than stopping it after the embryo was formed because either way you just prevented a child from being born.

[snowboarderTim]

That's just a bit confusing....... I'm not sure where life starts then, so I guess I'd have to do more research and maybe ask some people what they think... This is definitly a more complicated issue than reproductive cloning.

Tim

[snowboarderTim]

Oh, and no worries about the surveys anymore We just counted them up... So we're done collecting them!

Thanks for your help guys!
Tim

[smhatahy]

your welcome..