Have You Seen This?!

Posted on August 23, 2006 by Reon

A company in California, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., announced today that they have successfully created a system of generating human embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo.  Interestingly, the technique they’re using to do this is the same (also controversial) technique used to determine the genetic health of a pre-implanted embryo during In Vitro Fertilization.

“Until now, embryonic stem cell research has been synonymous with the destruction of human embryos,” stated Robert Lanza, M.D., Vice President of Research & Scientific Development at ACT, and the study’s senior author. “We have demonstrated, for the first time, that human embryonic stem cells can be generated without interfering with the embryo’s potential for life…”  Read entire article.

2 Comments »

Comment by Brian

August 24, 2006 @ 2:11 pm

A couple of things occured to me as I read through that article :

1) Where are they getting the embryos and what are they going to do with them after extracting the stem cells?

2) It’s impossible to determine long-term affects with such a limited study. I’m thinking of the recent findings that freezing extra embryos(ala IVF) causes damage which may not show up until that embryo is implanted and becomes a child. And how long have we been doing that?

3) Why keep wasting money on ESCR when stem cells from cord blood(for example) show much more promise and don’t face the same ethical dilemma?

Interesting enough, I got this response to the study from the CBHD in my inbox today.

Comment by Reon

August 30, 2006 @ 6:45 pm

I read this article on an e-newsletter I receive dealing with ACT. Just thought I’d add more info to the topic. Rather than try to reiterate the information myself, I might as well just link directly to the source.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/15346072.htm

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