28 July 2004
Last night as I was watching the DNC and eating dinner, I almost choked. No, I already knew that Ron Reagan (the son of one of the most popular Republican Presidents ever) would be speaking and I decided with nothing else really on, it would be interesting to see what he would have to say about Stem Cell research. Everything was going fine until he stated that no fetuses would be and are harmed by Stem Cell research. Thankfully, I was just about to sip my water when this statement was said, otherwise the Kitten would have been covered in water, which he hates. (102. I drink at least a half-gallon of water each day, usually more.)
(Picture thanks to CHARFOOS &CHRISTENSEN, P.C. ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW - A source that I want to make sure that I reference!)
As we can see from this chart, the fetal stage starts at about 9 weeks. And yes, there are some other sources of stem cells from:
A. (Already) living humans
B. Cord Blood
Here is an example of how cells divide once the egg and sperm come together.
(Thanks to “bio102.net” for the image!)
But the most promising type of stem cells seems to be from the pre-embryonic stages of development. This was a point that was totally ignored last night. It was glossed over. And yes, I know that it was to be a short speech, but still – give us some substance! Was he afraid that the general public would flip out? Yea…they probably would have, but still. In science we complain about the lack of knowledge that the general public has about how science works. And yet this is the same general population that gets their knickers all twisted up when they think that some scientific issue that be in conflict with their own beliefs. If medics (and in this case, politicians) just took the time to explain the how’s and why’s of what we do, I think that more people would be willing to listen and understand as apposed to just listening to what they are told to believe!
Guess what Ron, you want to help science, start explaining the theories and reasons for the things that we do!
(Picture thanks to CHARFOOS &CHRISTENSEN, P.C. ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW - A source that I want to make sure that I reference!)
As we can see from this chart, the fetal stage starts at about 9 weeks. And yes, there are some other sources of stem cells from:
A. (Already) living humans
B. Cord Blood
Here is an example of how cells divide once the egg and sperm come together.
(Thanks to “bio102.net” for the image!)
But the most promising type of stem cells seems to be from the pre-embryonic stages of development. This was a point that was totally ignored last night. It was glossed over. And yes, I know that it was to be a short speech, but still – give us some substance! Was he afraid that the general public would flip out? Yea…they probably would have, but still. In science we complain about the lack of knowledge that the general public has about how science works. And yet this is the same general population that gets their knickers all twisted up when they think that some scientific issue that be in conflict with their own beliefs. If medics (and in this case, politicians) just took the time to explain the how’s and why’s of what we do, I think that more people would be willing to listen and understand as apposed to just listening to what they are told to believe!
Guess what Ron, you want to help science, start explaining the theories and reasons for the things that we do!
