ALS Embryonic Stem Cell Research

stem cells are delicious

Indeed they do. They are grown in vitro after the female gamete cell is fertilized with a male gamete cell in vitro (in vitro, in case you may not know because some folks don't and that's fine, means outside the body). The embryos are grown until the cells replicate a few times, the embryo never develops organs, a brain, or anything remotely resembling a human. Inside the body an embryo becomes a fetus after 8 weeks. Outside the body embryos cannot reach that age. I had a rather lengthy debate the other day about this issue with RTL (right to life) fruitloops that seem to believe whatever conspiracy BS they're fed. I sent them an informative link on embryonic stem cell research and all they could reply with was rhetoric and a ridiculous article saying that fetuses are pilfered from women without consent and that embryos are fetuses etc. Lots of BS from the peanut gallery about that jazz. It was sad because they refused to understand reality about exactly how embryos are acquired for the testing and how the cells are used. Anywhoo, that sealion is the look one gets when they have that one friend that is like "well this this and this is bad for this this and this 'reason'". Just gotta roll your own show :)

I don't think anyone thinks embryos are taken from an abortion, that's just false. The embryos are taken from stored embryos that were created in vitro, or as you pointed out, from in vitro fertilization but not allowed to advance. Either way, the people who believe that life begins at conception, as one can see, have a huge problem with this. Not to mention that very little advancement has been made with embryonic stem cell research versus adult stem cell research which is quite promising. My take on the whole shebang? Follow the money!!!! It's never "really" about research anyway.

Ah, but you did not read the fruitloop article i read, some folks do legitimately believe, thanks to some hefty brainwashing from certain groups, that embryos are taken from abortions. But anywhoo, there have been advances with a lot of different types of stem cells, including the embryonic ones. If you ever get the chance, you can put in a few searches at pubmed about it (choose the full studies option after searching :) ): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

If we follow the money, almost every scientific advancement over the past 500 years would be a product of money grubbing. At the ALSA the donated money goes mostly to patient services, research, and education. A nominal percentage goes toward administrative fees and marketing. Though for ALS there isn't all that much marketing when compared to other disease charities like breast cancer awareness and heart disease awareness. The big thing with ALS is finding a treatment that will prevent progression of the symptoms. A cure is not all that likely at this point, but better treatments are definite possibilities. It sucks because in this country scientific health research is brutally underfunded.

Lastly, the folks that believe life begins at conception are kind of a baffling type. I mean what do they think of miscarriages, still births, and ectopic pregnancies that must be aborted?

Of all the research done, adult stem cells are more promising. The folks who believe that life begins as conception are not baffling at all, and they grieve the lost child, even if they have to abort it. An ectopic pregnancy can never advance, and could kill the mother, so medically she has to have an abortion. It's those who use abortion as an after-the-effect birth control that they see a moral issue arise.

Holy crap, you all type like mad people

No one cares