Are embryo's little babies?

stem cell research
Well are they babies?

No at that time they are layers of cells in a blastocyst consisting of ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm ,basically the building blocks of all tissue in the human body.
I feel a little strange about using them but on the other hand , the government has no right to tell people stem cell research is wrong, and besides the scientists involved have said recently all the lines they had left where contaminated by a mouse enzyme and are virtually useless. So I feel my eggs and my embyros are mine and women and men waste eggs and sperm every month. Why not let people who feel it isn't morally wrong to donate their embyros be allowed to do so. I see so much suffering in my patients that perhaps if research would go on we would have not so much chronic disease and our patient loads would be more manageable also. Just some thoughts, glad someone brought it up , I think about it daily....

I am sure that stem cell research has it's positives and negatives. But with more and more same sex couples our nations reproduction will be decreasing. Will creating life in a laboratory take over? To me this seems to close to creating robots.

I agree with it. I don't feel it's ending life, as the tissue used was never *intended* to create life. It's not actually "killing" IMO, and the advances that can be made to benefit society are too great to look away from.

stem cell research
I am totally with stem cell research because if u really know what it is all about,on the long term u r saving lives.I am a BMT nurse & we deal with stem cell research & it is so promising.Besides talking from a religous point of view, an embryo is not alive,the cells are but no soul.
What if a beloved one suffers a massive heart attack or some neurological damage,wouldn't u want to see them healthy again??
think abt it....

Re: stem cell research


Abby,
When does the embryo or baby get a soul?

Re: stem cell research


I notice you mention eggs and embryo's as different things. You also say:
"No at that time they are layers of cells in a blastocyst consisting of ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm ,basically the building blocks of all tissue in the human body. "

Do you consider these cells as life?

are cells alive? answer to Scott
When I say embyros are alive.. they are on a cellular level, but they cannot be viable as a baby yet. Eggs are alive until they are not fertilized each month. Sperm live until they die in a woman's reproductive tract or through some other means.
Its like apples and oranges. I know this will get into the right to life thing but there are persons men and women that think nothing special about their gametes and don't care what is done with them.
Hence abortions , however they do have that right to choose that... that is a matter between them and God. I have three beautiful children, have never aborted a child and wouldn't that is my moral code. However I am in the ending part of my reproductive years late 30s and I am still producing eggs. I just wish we could heal some of the suffering in the world through this.
I find the people how feel this is wrong, have never watched a loved one die or suffer. I know people say its God's will well if God didn't want us to do stem cell research why would he allow scientists the minds to discover these things.
Actually our field we work in is based on stopping or soothing suffering. There is no right answer I guess. But it holds promise not to control life but help fix it. It is a terrible ethical dilemma with no easy pat answers .