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October 31, 2006
only more acceptable?
It wasn't that long ago that things like creating a new human liver from scratch were entirely theoretical. I didn't expect to see actual hands-on results as quickly as this, but it seems to be happening (which is good news for Hepatitis C sufferers.) While they can't yet grow full-sized livers, this is quite a breakthrough, and growing usable sections of livers or whole, transpantable ones seems inevitable. Interestingly, the scientists didn't use embryonic stem cells, but umbilical cord blood: While other researchers have created liver cells from stem cells from embryos, the Newcastle team are the first to create sizeable sections of tissue from stem cells from the umbilical cord.I'm wondering what is meant by "more ethically acceptable than the use of embryonic stem cells," though. Does "more ethically acceptable" mean that there are any ethical objections to utilizing umbilical cord blood? Or is it just surplusage of language, like saying that good is more ethically acceptable than evil? I'm not going to spend all day on this, but I was unable to find a single objection to umbilical cord blood research. This statement is typical : There are no legal, ethical, moral or religious objections to using these cells.Perhaps the objections will come later, but I don't see them now. (Maybe they'll be along the lines of "why create new technology to extend life when people are starving/shouldn't they simply die with dignity?") posted by Eric on 10.31.06 at 08:04 AM
Comments
Sun Comprehending Glass:"Portland, Oregon has a cord blood bank. I donated my first born's cord blood simply by signing a Red Cross form at the same time I was filling out the other new born registry papers...." Taleena · October 31, 2006 01:11 PM This is pretty cool. I can remember reading sci-fi stories that assumed this kind of stuff would happen in about 500 or so years. Of course, they also assumed we'ld have interstellar travel before that... Looks like it will turn out the other way around. Jon Thompson · November 1, 2006 03:26 PM |
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I have a proposition: Any illegal alien that gives birth to 1 child in the US will get a green card if they donate the full contents of the umbilical cord. Illegal immigrant population AND stem cell research ... two birds, one stone. Well?