Posted by: Remi
05/23/2005, 14:29:40
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No, I wouldn't accept the notion that an embryo is "an animal". An animal wakes (has consciousness), sleeps, vocalizes, eats, mates, and participates a bit in the noösphere. An animal has noetic value. An animal embryo is in the same position with respect to noetic value as a human embryo. The embryos used in extracting stem cells are in an extremely early stage of development. They have very little cell differentiation and contain no organs. The embryo is usually 4 or 5 days old. The principle structure at that stage of development is called a blastocyst. The blastocyst is a microscopic hollow sphere. The stem cells are taken from this blastocyst. The idea that a life is being destroyed by removing stem cells from this tiny assembly of cells is ridiculous. This embryo is a clone. It developed from an egg cell whose haploid nucleus was extracted and replaced by a diploid nucleus from a somatic cell. The people who oppose extracting stem cells are even more opposed to cloning! Perhaps they are really opposed to making the cloned embryo in the first place. But there's just no rational reason to be opposed to it, and the potential benefits are truly marvelous. I have a young friend who is a quadriplegic. His spinal cord was cut in an automobile accident. He is sitting in his wheelchair every day hoping that a way will be found to get the nerve cells in his spinal cord to re-connect. There is every reason to believe that this seeming miracle can be achieved, although it will certainly take a lot of research. Similar things have already been done in animal studies.
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