Guest guest Posted August 3, 2003 Report Share Posted August 3, 2003 Stem cells can be taken from the umbilical cord of any baby who sur vives birth (like how many of us really keep them?), or sadly, from the deceased foetus in any case; babies do die all the time (I am not talking abortions here), and if we were all well informed, could donate the stem cells when a foetus or baby has died. Stem cells are not yet differentiated and can take on the characteristics of any organ or type of tissue in the body, which is why they are so valuable--and, of course, are far more available than any othery type of cell for genetic intervention in thousands of diseases, often prior to birth of the child. The other important technology is that which literally microscopically chooses those sperm and eggs which do NOT carry the disease for which the parents are known carriers, and are then implanted in the mother-to-be; this is often successful, and certainly does not " kill " any life as no one mother and father usually (we all know the exceptions) have more than one child at a time. I was tempted for forward the web pages on these topics, but found that they were largely out-dated and dwealt more on the ethics involved than the actual technology. I hope this summary proves helpful and as unbiased as I can make it. No question is ever " dumb! " Ask, and ask away on this list! Love to you, n Rojas, wcf, mom of 3 very adult adults, youngest wcf; in my era we had no idea that 50% of kids in each pregnancy would be likely to have cf because I myself have it, and am passing on my lovely mito chondria to my children--we all get that from our mothers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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