How are human embryonic stem cells obtained?
Human embryonic stem cells are obtained from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an extremely small spherical cluster of cells present about five days after fertilization. The embryo is destroyed in the process. Do scientists have to create new embryos specifically to destroy them? Yes and no. There are already over 400,000 extra embryos that have been created via in-vitro fertilization that will never be implanted into surrogate mothers. Essentially, there are a lot of potential resources. For articles concerning the view of ethics in research and the use of embryos, look up ‘Stem Cells’ under the New University Web site: http://newuniversity.org. What governmental barriers are slowing stem cell research? Currently, the Bush Administra-tion is blocking the allocation of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. It is also illegal to sacrifice embryos for the creation of new stem cell lines for research and current studies are limited to a set of two-dozen government-approved hu
