Personally, I am for stem cell research. I feel that stem cells are the future in treating debalitating and life-threatending conditions that afflict many people.

I've read a lot about a discovery in which certain genes are placed in a skin cell, turning it into what appears to be an embryonic stem cell. This will cause much less controversy since the cells are not taken from an embryo. However, just because scientists have not been able to find a difference between the faux-embyonic stem cell and actually stem cells does not mean that they are completely the same, and their differences could be fatal.

I'll try to find a few links to articles I've read recently on the subjuect- some of them are very interesting.

Personally, I'm completely for Stem Cell Research. Yes, I realize the ethical issues that some people may see in it, but I believe in the "sacrafice now and save later" philosophy. A few embryos now does not stack up to the thousands of lives that Stem Cell Research will both save and improve. I think it is terrible that most of the greatest minds in this field have left the United States to go research elsewhere due to our views and issues.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Robert W,

Oh man I am ALL for stem cell research. Because I am pro choice it helps with my view on this topic. Once a woman has decided she wants to give up her baby, then she can donate it to stem cell research. I think it works out beautifully.

I'm still kind of undecided with the issue. I mean good and bad things come out of it. But they did find a way to get the stem cells without destruction of the embryo so thats a good thing

and did anybody hear about the heart they grew in china?

Wow. Was this recently? Sounds interesting

Well I don't know if this is the same story. But I heard that they grew a new rat heart out of stem cells and a pre-existing structure of a rat heart, but I didn't know that it was in China. I acutally saw it on the NY Times website and it was very recent. No more than a week ago! It said that they even got it to pump some blood through one of the rat's bodies before it failed....!!!

That sounds awsome. They really are doing things today unimagined just a decade ago. research sure works fast

oh okay that was it. i only saw a clip of it on the news 2 nights ago and they didnt say what kind of heart they grew but that is still pretty sweet! its so cool what new medicine can do now a days

Is it true that they were able to clone a human using stem cells?

There is no evidence of a human being cloned. This does not mean it has not happened, but it is illegal almost everywhere that has the technology to do it. If anyone made it known that they had cloned a human they would probably face life in prison. The use of stem cells is monitored very carefully so that an event such as human cloning does not occur. The use of stem cells to produce organs is not even perfected, not to mention it is facing much protest. It would be at least fifteen years after the perfection of organ production before the organs would be allowed for donation purposes. After that, there is no way of knowing how long it would be before human cloning would be allowed.

All my Biology teacher said was that his DNA started to replicate in the stem cell and they allowed it to grow and develop for 12 days as a mess of cells before they terminated it. They definatly did not clone an entire human. But the cells divided I think.

If they had continued to let it grow it probably would be an extremely mutated human, due to it not being planted in a human womb. Even when cloning does finally advance, the births will still have to occur in a human so that nutrients can be provided from the mother, it will just not require sexual reproduction.

They only let it grow like 12 days, but the scientist said that he had no doubt that if they implanted it into a womb, the cells would have multiplied and created a perfectly normal baby with the cloned DNA.

So, does anyone else have any other key medical issues to throw out there?

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how does everyone feel about stem cell research?

Although I commend all those professionals for wanting to expand knowledge of stem cells and medical related situations so that we can all be better informed, I really dont feel like killing an innocent baby is appropriate. I just dont think its morally okay to kill a baby, even for such a strong benefit. Killing an innocent baby should never be okay, no matter what the reason is. Does anyone here think that maybe more research can be done so that they can be better informed using ELIZA tests or Kerby Bauer tests, ( things of that nature)

By no means am I saying I agree with abortion, but most stem cell research is done with babies that were going to be killed anyway. It is just a matter of the mother agreeing to let the doctors take the unborn child and conduct research with it.

i can go either way on abortion, but i do have some pretty specific views on when someone should NOT be allowed to abort a child, and as for my view on stem cell research, the thing is, they pretty much just throw away unused embryos, so it's killing the baby anyway. if the parents don't have any problem with it, then i think it's okay to try to figure out a way to save people using embryos that are pretty much going to be, for lack of a better word, killed anyway.

So I'm assuming that since it is an election year, political influence over medical issues will be a big point of discussion, especially regarding health insurance. If you watch any presidential debate, it's clear that it is a big issue.

Personally, I know we need to change. It's such a vicious cycle! Someone without health care coverage goes into the emergency room, and the doctors obviously aren't going to deny treatment just because he or she can't afford it. However, it's not just one person- there are way too many uninsured. So, by treating these patients, hospitals lose money, and many even close.

Personally, I think the government should control health insurance, because cuurently, heatlh insurance companies are businesses, so they want to make money!

Does anyone else have any opinions?

I actually think thats a really good point Carissa. The problem is one that needs to be addressed now. We need to make sure our nations basic inner structures are in tact and working before moving on to too many outside events, and that includes health insurence. The health companies are very similar to money hungry businesses, and i think health care needs to be more inclusive with the taxes that we pay. If everyone had it added to their taxes and were in a sense forced to pay for it, then they wouldnt be paying tons of money to the big companies. This would insure some amount of health care to all and stop many hospitals from having issues with this matter.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Robert W,

So I found a few more useful websites:http://www.medscape.com/medscapetoday- This is a great resource. It's meant for health professionals, so the information is at a little bit of a higher level. If you register, there are many different newsletters you can sign up for, all of which seem very interesting.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/index.php- This forum is full of experienced, helpful people. If you register, make sure you put "Carissa" as your referrer! Oh, and stop by my blog, too.