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Member (Idle past 1436 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
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Author | Topic: Stem Cells and Ethics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
They insist that it will be against the law to implant “chimeras” - named after the mythical creature that was half man and half animal - into a woman’s womb. Bah. What about plant and human DNA? Maybe I could synthesize coffee in my brain... Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
RAZD writes: These are the owners of the genetic material. Ethically they can do with it what they want to do. It is their decision. Not congress, not schwubbia. It's good to see some public support for science, but many would liken it to parents who want to sell their children off for research. Thus, they would think the government does ethically have a right to intervene, just as the government does in the case of mistreated children. Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
Omni writes: A fertilized embryo is no more a person than one of my indvidual sperm. I disagree. I think a fertilized embryo is qualitatively different from a sperm cell, as a sperm cell is haploid. But, I think that a fertilized egg is only quantitatively different from a skin cell, liver cell or brain cell. Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
Taz writes: As I have said before elsewhere, I believe that human life begins at the point of conception. Why? Because at this point in time noone can adequately define what a human is and by what standard we should strive for. I honestly don't know how to define what a person is, so I'd have to fall back to the safest possible point in time until we can better define what a person is. In other words, rather than taking a chance by picking a line in a grey area, I'd rather pick a line at the beginning of the grey area. Nobody knows how to define a person. But, I don't think you should choose a particular stance just because it is easy to define, but rather you should choose one that matches the feelings of morality that you have, and leads to the most acceptable conclusions. As Omnivorous (and others before him) have pointed out, there are unacceptable moral conclusions to your particular view. Consider the following scenario:
You are are firefighter running down the corridor of a IVF clinic, which is on fire. You are looking for survivors. Inside a room, you see a six year old boy, huddled in the corner. On the other side of the room, in an open fridge, is a freezer box that is clearly marked as containing 24 human embryos from Subject A541. Suddenly, you hear the groaning of the roof truss above you - the room is in danger of collapse. There is no way you could make it across the room to save both - which do you save: the little boy, or 24 human embryos? I don't know about you, but to me the pain that the child will feel makes him by far the better choice to save. To me, the ability to think and feel is a much better indicator of humanness than simply possessing a set of unique human chromosomes. Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
I agree with you, but I was merely pointing to the fact that a sperm or egg has a different genotype to the fertilized egg, whereas other somatic cells differ from that egg only in expression of that genotype.
Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Fossil, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
nemesis_juggernaut writes: Nobody has a problem with stem cell research. We have a problem with Embryonic Stem Cell research, which has produced nil. WEEEE! You're going round in circles. Consider that embryonic stem cells are heavily regulated and funding is limited. Because of this, the research in this area isn't producing any significant results. Because of this, you are arguing to keep the restrictions. Circular? Restrictions ’ Lack of results ’ Restrictions ’ Lack of results ’ Restrictions etc etc
nemesis_juggernaut writes: What is your beef with adult stem cells if they already have an established record of success? While I can see that adult stem cells could prove effective in terms of cures, there is one area that only embryonic research can help - human developmental biology. There are hundreds of developmental disorders (most of which affect only children, as they die before they reach adulthood) and, with the possible exception of psychiatric disorders, they are the most poorly understood of any conditions. And the sole reason for that is that we can't do research freely on human embryos. No amount of adult stem cell research can shed any light on this. Edited by Doddy, : clarify Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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Doddy Member (Idle past 5940 days) Posts: 563 From: Brisbane, Australia Joined: |
nemesis_juggernaut writes:
And is present in (almost) every cell of your body. Clearly, as there is no prohibition against killing those cells, then why should there be for others that have the same information?
All the information to make you who you are was there the second the sperm united with the egg.nemesis_juggernaut writes:
Uh-huh. But these cells in my body are in a formation that can feel pain, think and remember. Thus, even though they are just cells, they give rise to a self - something more than cellular processes.
Which, again, means that if they are just cells, then so are you.nemesis_juggernaut writes:
The only reason that your skin cells don't grow into a new person is because they have been prevented from doing so. Someone could indeed take a skin cell from you and, through SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer), actualise the genetic potential within them. That is how Dolly was born (albeit from a breast cell rather than a skin cell). So, if there is no prohibition against the killing of skin cells, why should there be against the killing of other cells which also have the potential to grow into a full person, if only someone would let them? In fact, the only reason why they don't grow into their full potential is becasue someone has prevented them from doing so. Contributors needed for the following articles: Pleiotropy, Metabolism, Promoter, Invertebrate, Meiosis, DNA, Transcription, Chromosome, Tetrapod, Phenotype, Messenger RNA, Mammals, Appendix , Variation, Selection, Gene, Gametogenesis, Homo erectus and others. Registration not needed, but if desired, register here!
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