The money for stem cells is moving

[warpus]

I am pro-stem cell research

I also think we should respect the dead though - in principle.

 

[El_Machinae]

A good majority of stem cells comes from left over Vitro Fertilization embryos. They will have 2 choices for the use of the leftovers.

1. Use them for Stem Cell reserach.
2. Garbage. Which leads to opening up a new restraunt for flies. "Embryo entree" for the maggots!

Personally, choice 1 sounds better.

And if I die, I would gladly give my body to science.

Ack! Close, but still off ...

IVF embryoes are an excellent source, and certainly a potential source. But a LOT of the stem cells being worked on are from already existing lines - you know, embryoes that haven't been killed.

Of course, the idea of throwing them out seems stupid. Nurturing them might be a moral option for the religious, but disposing of them makes no one happy.

 

[El_Machinae]

I have thought about it, and I'm not really sure. But I think it goes along the line of "better government money than our own (corporation) money."

There's no percentage (on Wall Street) funding original research. As a venture capitalist, I'm not going to fund research (at a potential loss) when I could purchase shares in a window-washing company or something.

Keep in mind that, unlike the company, the government gets a lot of trickle benefits from funding research (they have more pies and more fingers in each one). Meaning, every single step of success in research tends to benefit the government too.

 

[Brian_B]

I am pro-stem cell research

I also think we should respect the dead though - in principle.

I fall pretty close to where you do on the issue. It's hard to articulate how I feel about abortion. It's really something that should be avoided unless absolutely necessary and although part of my gut instinct says it's morally wrong I'm willing to make the compromise in the interest of pragmatism and not having a society where women are forced to carry children to term regardless of the consequences.

Take those thoughts and carry them over to embryonic stem cell research. Part of my gut says: Yeah, this is a really sketchy area to be dabbling in from a morality standpoint, and another part says curing/treating Cancer and a host of other medical scourges is a goal worthy of "looking the other way" for a second.

 

[El_Machinae]

Ooch - a pragmatist ... welcome to the forums!

You have less trouble than others do with the 'if you pull the switch, one person will be killed ... if you don't, five will be killed' type questions, no?

 

[Brian_B]

Ooch - a pragmatist ... welcome to the forums!

You have less trouble than others do with the 'if you pull the switch, one person will be killed ... if you don't, five will be killed' type questions, no?

It's always tough but at a certain point you just have to make a decision and go with it. With issues like this and abortion my views come down to having "workable" solutions that try to compromise between the two sides of the argument (both of which hold a lot of merit). I usually lean towards the practical results end as morality is an elusive concept a lot of the time. My feeling is generally, if I err in balancing the two factors then eventually God or some higher power will sort me out when I die. Morality, religion, etc. are important to the growth and well being of a society but there are always other factors to counter/consider along with them.

In the end, we are only human. We do the best we can and hope history will prove us having made the wiser choice.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Like I said, there is some moral ambiguity in some forms of stem-cell research. But there are some embryos that are either dead or will never be developed. The gov't, or private businesses, should get to work on turning them into viable lines that will produce stem cells without killing anyone. I am opposed to abortion but not to stem cell research.