Verified answer

Nobody makes fertilised embryos specifically for the purpose of harvesting them for ES cells (at least, not currently).

The source for ES cells is "leftover" embryos after successful IVF treatment.

When a couple enroll for IVF treatment, the woman is treated with hormones to make several ova become mature at once. Thes eggs are removed, and are fertilised with sperm "in vitro". These fertilised eggs (zygotes) are allowed to mature to the blastocyst (~80 cell) stage, they are visually screened for obvious malformations (and sometimes might be genetically screened too, if the couple wish to avoid a particular genetic disease), and then several of them are implanted into the woman. This is the reason why IVF pregnancies are much more likely to result in multiple-births (twins, triplets, etc.) than "normal" pregnancies.

In addition to those implanted, there will be several "extras" leftover after the procedure, kept frozen. If the first implantation does not result in pregnancy, then these zygotes can be thawed, and implanted in another proceedure. However, if the first procedure *does* work, then these embryos are just kept frozen (in case the couple return at a future date, wanting another child).

It is not considered safe to keep these embryos for more than a few years (around 5, but legislation and guidelines vary), because the risk of deformity increases. So these embryos would HAVE to be discarded at this time. They therefore have NO possible future as a baby, but it is possible to harvest them for ES cells.

An analogy I like to use is this:

Imagine a couple whose ten-year old child tragically dies in an accident. They are asked if they wish to donate the child's organs, and therefore possibly save several other lives (and releive the suffereng of many others).

The situation with ES cells is the same. The embryo has no future life, but harvesting it for ES cells might potentially save many *hundreds* (even thousands) of lives.

> "My question is in regard to whether or not a fertilized egg is being extracted or if part of the egg is being extracted of which on its own, could grow into a human fetus"

Theoretically, the whole blastocyst has a potential life. The individual cells from the inner cell mass (where ES cells are derived from) do not. While identical twins do result from embryos "splitting" in two, this splitting happens much earlier in development (at or before the 8-cell stage).

The only way to take a single ES cell and make a foetus from it would be by the same cloning technology used to create Dolly the Sheep. You would have to take yet another fertilised egg, extract the nucleus from it, and implant the nucleus from the ES cell.

The majority of Embryonic stem cell research is conducted on a few examples extracted from "waste" invitro fertilisation stocks. I scare-quote waste as there is controversy there too. In IVF programmes, many tens of eggs are collected and fertilised, but only a few are implanted at a time. The remainder are cryogenically frozen for later attempts. If the first round was successful, then the others are stored until more room needs to be made.

In the past, the act of extracting the stem-cells destroyed the potential viability of the fertilised egg, but recent techniques have been developed that do not and the fertilised egg is supposedly still viable.

There are other types of Stem Cell research that use cloned lines and material from an adult body, but most scientists believe these are not as potent as Embryonic Stem Cells.

There used to be a very large controversy surrounding this because stem cells were collected by taking failed invitrofertilizations and turning them into a ball of stem cells. Many people said that the ball of stem cells was alive and that by conducting experiments on it you were conducting experiments on a baby. Some said that because the stem cells had the potential to become a baby, killing it was murder. Others said that it wasn't killing because the ball of stem cells was just a ball of cells and killing it was no different than killing bacteria.

Although these controversies swirled in the past, there is no controversy any more. Stem cells are now collected by taking skin cells and reverting them into stem cells, a method created by a scientist named Jamie Thomson. The method removed all controversy and even the Catholic Church announced that it was moral.

I think it depends on what type of stem cell you are talking about. we all have pluripotent cells that can differentiate into most cells, these can and are being used in stem cell research. as for used embryos that are not viable for IVF etc there are very strict guidelines as to how they can be grown and what for. If you go to wiki and type in stem cells there's more on there.

Taking a fertilised embryo out of a woman...I can only see if being an abortion and so she has consented to this happening. It could grow into a human if we had the technology but highly unlikely after that stress of being detached tht it would survive.

the eggs being used on stem cell research are from those leftovers from fertility clinics where too many eggs are fertilized by only one couple.so of course among those fertilized eggs only 1 will be picked up.so instead of tossing the remaining eggs into the drain stem cell research labs use them to grow different healthy organs. a fertilized egg is composed of stem cells.those stem cells are the one cultured for growing organs to be used by those who needed it..

so to toss them or to make them useful? which one sounds less like a murder? i'd rather use them for a cause.. ;)

In a literal sense no, murder is the killing of another human being.

However pro-lifers will typically argue that it is murder.

Basically, it seems a matter of opinion until an authoritive power gives a conclusive definition.

If you attack a pregnant woman, and her baby dies as a direct result of your actions, it would not be murder. If the woman dies, it is murder. If an unborn, developed baby's death is not murder, then it is unlikely the death of a fertilised egg will ever be considered murder.

That is not to suggest it is morally correct to use foetuses for research, as I don't believe it is, but legally, it is not murder.

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Short answer: no.

Long answer: not all stem cell research is carried out on human stem cells. Not all stem cells used for research are foetal stem cells. If we carry out stem cell research on plant stem cells, clearly it cannot be murder. Likewise, if we carry out stem cell research on pig stem cells, it is not murder.