General Medicine

» P_Al - Stem cell research

These are good points that you have made. To answer your question, the stage that is used to collect embryonic stem cells is called a blastocyst and it is about 5-6 days old. This stage is diploid. See http://www.iscr.ed.ac.uk/outreach/about-... (Scroll about 1/3 way down the page) However, as I pointed out, others may come to different conclusions based on their belief systems.

Many persons from a religious background, have alot of resources and teaching at their disposal, that will lead them naturally to apply particular premises and draw certain conclusions. There are others who may approach issues without these and easily come to other conclusions. It may not be simply to produce an excuse to do what they wish.

Take for example an issue that I find very interesting; the concepts of ensoulment and twinning. I believe that much of the moral objection to embryonic stem cell research is based on the premise that even the earliest embryo is a human life with a soul.

However, if an embryo can divide up to 12-14 days after fertilization, to become a twin or higher multiples, some may interpret this as an issue that needs further clarification with respect to when a human life is formed.

How would one explain the issue of ensoulment with respect to twins which develop say at day 12, from an initially singular mass of cells?

-- posted by P_Al