Human Embryos

Embryonic cells should be allowed to be used because of the medical benefits they provide. They can be used to cure diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, traumatic spinal cord injury, Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, heart disease, and even vision and hearing loss (nih.gov 2009). There is no problem using them for medical purposes and it is not immoral to use them for this reason. Embryonic cells have the potential to save lives. Therefore, the usage of embryonic cells outweighs the ethical issues.

During January of 2013, scientists based at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard were able to demonstrate fixed change in human and animal cells using CRISPR-Cas9. This marked a turning point in genetic advancement—though CRISPR was far from mastered, its potential was beginning to show.

Only twenty years ago, embryo freezing (cryopreservation) was considered a technique that raised “disturbing,” “extremely difficult,” “incredibly complex,” and even “nightmarish” ethical issues. Currently, however, at least 41 of the 169 infertility clinics in the United States have begun to implement in vitro fertilization protocols (IVF) (Freemann et al., 1986). The number of frozen embryos in this country nearly tripled, from 289 to 824, between 1985 and 1986 (Van Steirteghem and Van Den Abbel, 1988). An estimated ten infants in the U.S. and sixty in the world were born as of 1988 after having been frozen as embryos. The government and professional advisory groups have endorsed embryo

There are people who disagree on the morality of using human embryonic cells, and stem cell research in general, nonetheless. Some stubborn pro-life organizations insist that the destruction of the “blastocyst, which is a laboratory-fertilized human egg” (White), is on the same level as murdering a human child and is entirely immoral and unacceptable. Even if these embryonic cells are being used to save lives and cure diseases, they believe it is wrong because the cells were taken at the cost of a

The Gene Hackers published by the New Yorker’s Michael Specter talks about a breakthrough technology that could allow for the creation of genetically modified humans- “humans 2.0” as he calls it. This new technology could also be the cure for many genetic disorders like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s etc. as it would allow scientist the ease of genetically identifying and editing specific genes responsible for these genetic abnormalities. This exciting new technology will be known as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats associated protein 9 or CRISPR-Cas 9 for short.

Claims that may be criticized. Although I do fully agree with Manninen when she states that embryos are human, but they are simply in a different developmental stage than the rest of us, I feel that the potential for cognitive abilities and intellect may also be argued. Who’s to say this embryo may or may not want to donate tissues or organs when they are older? For this reason it can be confusing to prohibit the use of embryos on these

Recent debate concerns using cells in the process of infertility treatments. Scientists are most eager to work with them because they can generate all kinds of tissues a body may need and help repair damaged and diseased organs. This could offer hope to millions who have many medical disorders. But antiabortion activists argue against this type of research.

All the human embryonic stem cell lines currently in use come from four to five-day-old embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. In IVF, researchers mix a man 's sperm and a woman 's eggs together in a lab dish. Some of those eggs will become fertilized. At about five days the egg has divided to become a hollow ball of roughly 100 cells called a blastocyst which is smaller than the size of the dot over an “i”. ("Myths and Misconceptions About Stem Cell Research.")

Spare embryos shouldn’t be used in views of some people. If spare embryos are not supposed to be used for research or anything else, they should just be kept as “spare.” People view the embryos as being extra or unwanted by the parents. People believe these embryos could go to adoption

Whenever these fertilized eggs are unwanted and unused by potential mothers, they are often donated to stem cell research labs without the full consent and understanding of the person whose genes are in the embryo. The embryo is immediately placed in a petri dish that replicates the environment of a mother’s uterus and allowed to begin growing into the person it would be. At this stage, the embryo can still be placed into a woman and has the potential to form a human life. The life is allowed to grow and form not only more stem cells, but specified cells that would have later formed every part of the natural body, including the building blocks for lungs, a tiny beating heart, and even eyelashes. However, these lives are never given the chance to live. They are rather allowed to begin developing, and then are dissected live, injected with toxic substance in order to gain a reaction, or mixed with the live cells of a deadly disease

Imagine an all-powerful miracle cure that could help treat devastating spinal injuries or eliminate the need for insulin injections. To some extent, one already exists. For years, researchers have been studying the miraculous potential of human embryonic stem cells. Human embryonic stem cells, also known as hESC, have the ability to develop into any kind of specialized cells in the human body, ranging from as simple as a skin cell to as complex as a neuron. This “miracle cure,” however, comes with a great cost; the stem cells have to be extracted from a human embryo, completely destroying it. Research institutions often obtain embryos either from abortion clinics or, most commonly, as a donation from a fertility clinic. Fertility clinics

Embryonic Research consists of manipulating embryos and stem cell to make medical discoveries, although this may sound wonderful many people consider it unethical. Genes and Embryos have become the subject of intense public discussions, as the achievements and medical discoveries in the categories of embryology and genetics not only increase our knowledge, but open up new possibilities to influence homosapiens in a certain novel way. Embryos play a major part in the scientific world. To create a normal stem cell line as a basis to go by, scientist begin with a fertilized embryo, the embryo is usually discarded from an in vitro fertilization clinic, or they can create a germ line by the use of therapeutic

“To claim that there are enough ‘spare’ embryos in IVF [in vitro fertilization] clinics is nonsense.” (Peter Hollands)

Biotechnology prompts a fear that humanity is gaining too much control over the choice of human evolution and destiny (McLean 1). Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR 1), “…the new fast, flexible, cheap way to manipulate the genetic code of life…” (Achenbach 1) exploits from the natural process used by ordinary bacteria to fend off against intrusive viruses while Cas (CRISPR-associated proteins), a set of enzymes, precisely snips DNA. CRISPR makes it simple to alter

Though the egg stem cell research may appear strictly advantageous, it is not without drawback. To research on egg stem cells, the cells must first be harvested and prepared. The procedure for harvesting egg cells has been described as painful (Hyun, 2006, pg 629). A woman must receive daily hormone injections that cause the temporary shutdown of the primary reproductive organ and then rapid ovarian hyper stimulation for up to three weeks. This yields the unnaturally large