I am distracting myself. Still fighting with the webinar. If I don’t step away the laptop is flying into the yard and it is not mine.
Looking at the next point in that article, I noticed they have “embryonic stem cells” in italics. Perhaps a subtle way to make people raise their eyebrows?
I double checked the source of the article after seeing that. It is the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Their purpose is to promote and foster the dissemination of ideas about stem cells.
Promote and foster the dissemination of ideas. Facts, too. Sounds like a plan.
I am aware there are folks reading this who are totally opposed to stem cell research. No problem. That is your prerogative. Depending upon religious views about such things as when does life start, etc., people may decide it is an immoral practice. I just want to put some facts out there for the people who may be making their decisions on half or incorrect information.
Scientific American in Getting It Right About Stem Cells quoted at that time (2010) there were 800 stem cell lines worldwide. A stem cell line is a family of constantly dividing cells produced from a group of parent cells harvested from a single embryo.
Now stop there for a minute. Embryo here does not mean a well delineated little person. Embryo in this case is a blastocyst four to five days after fertilization. According to Medicinenet.com a blastocyst is a thin-walled, hollow structure made up of two layers, the inner and the outer layers. Conception: How It Works tells us a fertilized egg does not attach until at least five to six days after fertilization. Conception also tells us 50% of all fertilized eggs are lost before the woman’s next cycle.
Next question: where do the blastocysts come from? According to Getting It Right again as of 2010 there were 400,000 fertilized eggs (blastocysts) in storage in the United States alone. The New York Times estimated that number had grown to 612,000 by 2011. By 2015 when the article was written? Estimates were around 1 million.
What to do with all those blastocysts? Implant them? The reason they are still in storage years later is often because the original donors (or parents if you prefer) have successfully delivered several children and want and can handle no more.
Give them away? To whom? There are tons of problems there.
Keep them in storage at the fertility clinic? The Times reported storage costs of up to $1200 a year. What if you cannot afford that? And what happens when you age and die?
That leaves destruction or donation to science. How many fertilized eggs are destroyed every year? I could not find a number for the States but the Telegraph claimed in 2012 there were 1.7 million fertilized eggs “thrown away” in the United Kingdom.
One more point before I sign off. Wikipedia reported in 2017 there were 378 approved stem cell lines in this country. However, only a handful of these lines are actually being used. The National Stem Cell Bank reported 77% of the requests they received were for only two of the lines they control.
And I lied, one more point. How long can a stem cell line last and be productive? We don’t know but some people have hypothesized they could be ‘immortal’.
There is precedence for that. Cancer cells taken from a woman in Baltimore in 1951 are still alive, multiplying and being used in research. Don’t believe me? Her name was Henrietta Lacks and the story is interesting. Look her up.
There you go. Change you mind? No? Your prerogative. I just wanted to share a few facts.
Written April 2nd, 2018