For decades, the enormous disease-curing potential of human stem cells has been thwarted by the inability to produce sufficient quantities of mature human cells in vivo — in a living organism.
Now, a team led by University at Buffalo scientists has developed a method that dramatically ramps up production of mature human cells in mouse embryos. Producing human cells in vivo is critical because cells made in a petri dish often do not behave the same way that cells do in the body.
I wonder 2G if those opposed to any embryo research involved with human stem cells, will raise objections to this project in Buffalo. The moral status of the human embryo is sometimes a red line with certain individuals, let alone mice or cats or canaries. Does a human being alone have a moral status which is sacred, and not other species? Species membership is devoid of moral significance if it is species preference. That is prejudice. So the human potential argument comes into play. That might be a dead end. Is human potential affected by this research?
Research has always been quite resilient to public opinion, with the result justifying the means to the scientists. In the main, unless there is legal legislation the research will continue. Research with human embryos is legally allowed, with the caveat that they have to be destroyed afterwards.
A good answer 2G. You probably know that the human embryo research cuts no ice with the pro-life lobby, who say that the fetus has potential which is cut off when an embryo is destroyed. Sensible science will argue differently, hence the destruction of the embryo after the research is completed . It is a legalism some pro-lifers will never accept, even in Buffalo, USA.
I cannot see an embryo coming to term inside a mouse, both the embryo and the mouse would die, so not really valid to the pro-lifers, who can protest all they like but as I said the research will still go on, if not in Buffalo, somewhere else.
Yes, 2G, because science is a rational pursuit as your continuous posts of research etc highlights. I am a fan of enhancements and reproductive choice, so your investigations resonate with me quite substantially.
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