CGS-authored
IT'S CLOSE TO impossible these days to avoid the debate over the ethics of stem cell research. George W. Bush raised the curtain on his presidency in 2001 by barring federal funding for research on new stem cell lines. Last month, South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk announced a global initiative designed, in part, to circumvent some nations' squeamishness about this promising research.
But for all the discussion, the origins of those controversial embryonic stem cells are rarely acknowledged.
"It's as if these embryos just came from nowhere," Susan Berke Fogel, head of the nascent California activist group the Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research (PCARR), told the Bay Guardian.
Actually, they come from the eggs of women _ living, breathing women who will have to undergo risky procedures to have their eggs removed in the name of science.
That's because scientists have placed much of their hope in customized embryonic cells they grow themselves, using a technique called nuclear transfer. The process involves extracting genetic material from an easy-to-obtain skin cell, placing it inside an oocyte that has had its...
But for all the discussion, the origins of those controversial embryonic stem cells are rarely acknowledged.
"It's as if these embryos just came from nowhere," Susan Berke Fogel, head of the nascent California activist group the Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research (PCARR), told the Bay Guardian.
Actually, they come from the eggs of women _ living, breathing women who will have to undergo risky procedures to have their eggs removed in the name of science.
That's because scientists have placed much of their hope in customized embryonic cells they grow themselves, using a technique called nuclear transfer. The process involves extracting genetic material from an easy-to-obtain skin cell, placing it inside an oocyte that has had its...
.jpg){kind=link}