Photo Courtesy of RSNAA lot of the evangelical contention on this issue comes from misinformation. I will try to shed some light on the issue. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, can give rise to all the cell types of the body, and are derived from fertilized eggs found in In vitro Fertilization Clinics. The cells are taken before they have a chance to differentiate. These cells are then placed in dishes and allowed to divide. Embryonic stem cells differ from adult stem cells in that they are able to become any cell type in the body. The adult stem cells show some ability to differentiate into other cell types but most are confined to the tissue they come from. Embryonic stem cells also are able to divide indefinitely in a culture where as adult stem cells are much harder to keep dividing in culture. I am not opposed to research with adult stem cells or umbilical cord cells but I believe we should allow the use of embryonic stem cells as well. In our fertilization clinics around the world there are thousands of embryos that are frozen or thrown away. As Christians we have two choices we can stop using fertilization clinics or support the use of these would be discarded cells to further research in hopes of helping people with debilitating diseases around the world. Psalm 139:13 says that God knits humans together in their mothers' wombs and for that reason I am against abortion, but these stem cells never make it to a mother's womb so I see no reason to put this kind of research in the same category with abortions. Stem cells as there name says are just that, cells. They have no human characteristics and look like any other animal in development. So my question is why throw them away?
references: http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics3.asp
http://www.news.wisc.edu/packages/stemcells/
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