Stem cell - few quick questions

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luvthelight

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ahhh. i just learned that on weds my lovely public school is going to be giving hte senior class a presentation on stem cell research. why? i honestly don’t know. my only guess is that they are trying to target the next generation of votors for the next elections. i asked my history teacher what approach they were taking - as in - are they gonna try and make up believe that embryonic stem cell research is ok and only nut - jobs are against? she says she believes they will be taking the ‘academic approach’ - but then - she is an extremely liberal, feminist woman, so i dont really know what that means. esp. in today’s society, where abortion is ok and this IS a public school.

anyways. i just wanted to double check to be sure i understood the church’s postion on the subject and see if anyone could point me in the direction of resources to prepare myself. i am SURE that conversations will arise, and i want to be sure i understand how to defend what we believe. my understanding is that embryonic stem cells - NOT OK - kills a child, and no advancements have been made in this arena anyways, but stem cells from a plecenta are ok b/c no one is harmed - and the few advancements that have been made have used these cells

is this correct? is there any other stats i should be aware of?
 
Check out the Q and A on stem cells and cloning on the USCCB website. It is a PDF file, so you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it, but it is a concise question and answer sheet addressing the topics you brought up.
 
Focus on the Family also has some great resources with scientific evidence against embryonic stem cell research.

The gist is that most well-reputed scientists don’t bother with embryonic stem cells because other sources of stem cells are much more promising.

Here is a link I found very helpful:

family.org/cforum/fosi/bioethics/cloning/a0036470.cfm

Some buzz words you will want to know are mesenchymal stem cells (from adults, bone marrow for example), and pluripotency.

It is also possible to obtain stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord. I know of at least one successful treatment with these stem cells, and I am by no means well-researched on this topic.

I hope this helps!
 
How old are you? you must be in highschool? It’s so greeat to see you interested in this and wanting to defend your faith! tell your parents that I said to keep up the good work! and you keep up the good work too and keep the faith. remember this also, only when truth is spoken, can the Holy Spirit work. so go and learn all you can. look at the liberal’s point of view, so that you will be ready for’m and you rock!!! 😃 I’ll pray that you change some hearts!
 
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luvthelight:
anyways. i just wanted to double check to be sure i understood the church’s postion on the subject and see if anyone could point me in the direction of resources to prepare myself. i am SURE that conversations will arise, and i want to be sure i understand how to defend what we believe.
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Well, God bless you for standing up for the Faith.
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luvthelight:
my understanding is that embryonic stem cells - NOT OK - kills a child, and no advancements have been made in this arena anyways, but stem cells from a plecenta are ok b/c no one is harmed - and the few advancements that have been made have used these cells

is this correct? is there any other stats i should be aware of?
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Sort of.

You are correct that the Church teaches embryonic stem cell research-- creating and killing a human embryo-- is always wrong.

You are also correct that no actual cures have come from embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells, which come from bone marrow, have proven useful in several cures. Cord blood, from newborn babies is also a licit method of collecting stem cells.

Here is the statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:

www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/stemcell

Some other sites:

Visit www.all.org (American Life League) and click on “S” in the A-Z list then scroll down and click on Stem Cell Research. Visit also www.priestsforlife.org (Priest For Life) for info on the subject. Just type in the words stem cell in the Search engine on the PFL website.

And another resource, dedicated to ethics in stem cell research:

www.stemcellresearch.org
 
thanks to everyone for their sources. they were extremely helpful. i would also like to add, however, that i was surprisingly pleased with the presentation. i had braced myself for the worse (look how sick people are, we could cure them all if we had embryonic stem cells b/c these are the youngest and the best, but thanx to bush all funds have been cut and we cant do it without your help in the voting booths next year . . . . ect) but they actually focused the majority of the presentation on ADULT stem cell potential, where these cells are found in our bodies and how they can be extracted from placentas, ect. they did however, mention embryonic stem cells, and had a picture of the ‘ideal’ age of the ‘embryo’ (around 5 days), and shows the cells in a pin head - which i though was an annoying attempt to dehumanize the baby. i dont know if they focused on adult stem cells out of political reasons (dont want to upset anyone who holds similar belief systems to ours) or if the organization truly didnt believe in it, and mostly focused on adult as a group (i pray its the latter).

anyways. just wanted to give a little update, and thanks again for your help - and happy thanksgiving!
 
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