hi , i was hoping to get some opinions of individuals on stem cell technology and

[adventuregal]

why you may think this way? also, what are some social implications on stem cell technology? im very confused with social as i get it mixed up with ethcal.
hmm i am very confused about social implications and that alone though.

[Bwts]

Socially it can be nothiong but positive in my opinion.

An increase in the quaility of life for many people.

[TelomereGuru]

Stem cells have amazing potential. A stem cell does not yet have the programming to become a certain type of tissue and therefore has the possibility of becoming ANY type of tissue. This could literally save the life of someone who is lacking tissue for some reason. However, scientists have not yet learned how to make all cell types from stem cells. A lot of research needs to be done to learn how to make every kind of cell, and this is why stem cell research desperately needs funding. Also, they need to figure out how to best deliver these cells to the body so that they can function.

For the social implications, the embryos for the technology are mostly taken from in vitro fertilization clinics. When a couple uses in vitro fertilization, there are many embryos left over from the procedure that are never used to fertilize the woman. They are still a small ball of cells that do not resemble a baby. These embryos usually remain frozen. There is a new technology available that can gather stem cells from embryos that have essential flaws where they would not even live inside a mother. I do not think the technology would break any more social barriers than this if it were allowed. These cells are sufficient for stem cell research to occur. Therefore, I believe the positives outweigh the negatives in this case. Scientists aren't as heartless as people sometimes think.

Oh, and although the cells may not be quite as good for every purpose, using stem cells not from embryos could even eliminate these ethical concerns.

EDIT: As far as the difference between social and ethical concers, they are not all that different. A social concern is how it will affect people at an individual level. An ethical concern is whether it is okay morally. It shouldn't affect people all that much socially in a negative way. It could help you mother, father, sister, whatever if they needed a replacement of some type of tissue. And it's not like people are going to go around stealing stem cells from you, so I doubt it would affect things negatively. Ethically, the concern is that they are still embryos even if they are frozen.

[Mathilda]

Now they don't have to use human embryos, for it, there's no real ethical objections to it as far as I'm concerned.
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/9619/wahy1.html

It will help people who've had serious neurological damage, so you'll probably end up with fewer seriously disabled citizens to support. It could also trigger of the viable cloning of organs, which would extend the human lifespan, quite possibly up to the maximum of 130 years, and it would stop a lot of people dying from want of a transplant.