Embryonic Stem Cells & Capital Punishment. What life do YOU value most?

by whereami 14 Replies latest jw friends

  • whereami
    whereami
  • carvin
    carvin

    These are touchy subjects so be ready for answers that you don't agree with and don't take them personally.

    I am all for capitol punishment as this is applied to adults who decide that they don't want to abide by societys laws and have therefor caused death to others. I don't think that it should be used for theft of anykind but only if extreem harm is caused to somebody. Personally I would support capitol punishment for child abusers, sorry but that is how I feel.

    As for stem cell research, I don't want people getting pregnant just to abort to supply embryos, but I am for research that could possably improve life, just not at the expence of another.

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips

    Embryonic stem cells are no longer necessary for human therapeutics. Adult cells can now be functionalized to have all the therapeutic properties of embryonic cells. This takes the ethical issues off the table. Additionally, since autologous adult stem cell grafts are of the same genetic makeup as the patient, there is little to no chance of tissue rejection.

    This is not the case with embryonic stem cells, which are from a genetically foreign donor. With the possible exception of spinal and brain tissues (which lie behind an immune system barrier), foreign cell grafts will usually require immunosupressants, no different than a when a foreign organ is donated, like a heart or a kidney.

    Regarding capital punishment for capital crimes (murder), I do not think it is immoral. However, I do not support it.

    BTS

  • beksbks
    beksbks

    I support stem cell research completely, capital punishment in some cases.

  • JeffT
    JeffT

    Like too many other things in this country, this debate was blown out of proportion by both sides. Nobody (even potential somebodies) was going to get killed just to collect their stem cells. And embryonic stem cells were always a long shot to provide the cures that too many people were claining to be just around the corner.

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips

    Stem cells, JT, regardless of provenance, are not a "long shot."

    BTS

  • Justitia Themis
    Justitia Themis

    Adult cells can now be functionalized to have all the therapeutic properties of embryonic cells. This takes the ethical issues off the table

    http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/10/still-no-truce-in-the-stem-cell-wars.html

    Still No Truce in the Stem-Cell Wars

    A new study finds serious problems with stem cells produced from adult cells.

    "We just couldn't get the cells to do what we wanted," Lanza told me. "At first we blamed ourselves, but then we looked at the cell markers and saw that the cells were aging much faster" than true embryonic cells. "There was a 1,000- to 5,000-fold difference" between the iPS cells' ability to keep growing and dividing and the true embryonic cells' ability, he says. "In terms of whether you can use the cells therapeutically or to study disease, that's the difference between getting the study to work and being dead in the water." Other scientists working with iPS cells have begun to see the same problems, Lanza says, suggesting that "this whole population of cells is screwed up." I'm for stem cell research, and I'm against capital punishment on FINANCIAL GROUNDS. It simply costs us more to defend the constant appeals than it does to house people for the rest of their lives. In addition, if would allow us to sign onto various paragraphs of the Int'l Dec. of Human Rights that we currently cannot.

  • Mad Sweeney
    Mad Sweeney

    I used to be all for capital punishment until I read "Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)" by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson.

    I now know we are not capable of determining guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

    I'm not touching the stem cell topic.

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips
    Still No Truce in the Stem-Cell Wars
    A new study finds serious problems with stem cells produced from adult cells.

    Justitia, this problem has largely been solved.

    The problem is that as cells divide, the telomeres, which are the tips of the chromosomes, shorten.

    Old cells are descended from a long line of divisions, and thus have shorter telomeres. Once a cell line has undergone enough divisions, it becomes senescent because of the too-short telomeres.

    This is a big reason why we age. We lose the capacity to grow new cells to replace old ones. As time goes by, more and more cells become senescent.

    Induced stem cells, even if pluripotent, inherit the shorter telomeres from the parent cells. It is like a biological clock.

    All the rights to his ACTcellerate platform have been licensed to a company that has figured out how to rejuvenate adult-derived stem cells and restore mitotic capacity through the lengthening of the telomeres.

    I've spoken with Lanza on the subject, by the way.

    BTS

  • Justitia Themis
    Justitia Themis

    The article is from February 2010. And telomeres is only part of the answer. We know that telomere shorten as cells repeatedly reproduce. We know that this has SOMETHING to do with aging, but scientist are a long way from the answer. They do NOT know if this a causation or correlation. THAT is why anti-aging researchers are looking into telomere regeneration, but are moving with caution.

    If you had read the article, you would have discerned that adult stem cells are giving scientists fits in that they are not proving capable of reproducing at the rate of embryonic stem cells. As the one scientist said, this spells "death" to their experiments.

    I think to make the grand pronouncement that the any issues related to the subject are dead is premature at best. ...might want to give Lanza another call. :)

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