2. UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD STEM CELLS VS EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
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UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD STEM CELLS
EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
Availability
Every child has an umbilical cord
Collection is a safe, easy, relatively inexpensive, and painless five-minute procedure:
• No harm, discomfort, or inconvenience to mother and child
• Currently, 99% of these valuable cells are being thrown into the waste
Collection is a safe, easy, relatively inexpensive, and painless five-minute procedure:
• No harm, discomfort, or inconvenience to mother and child
• Currently, 99% of these valuable cells are being thrown into the waste
Embryonic stem cells are derived from human embryos
Collection is a complicated and expensive procedure:
• Woman must be stimulated with expensive medications to collect multiple eggs
• Eggs then inseminated with sperm, resulting in embryo
Collection is a complicated and expensive procedure:
• Woman must be stimulated with expensive medications to collect multiple eggs
• Eggs then inseminated with sperm, resulting in embryo
Ethical Controversy
No ethical issues exist with cord blood stem cells
Until recently, cord blood was considered a waste product
No religious objections with the exception of Jehovah Witnesses, who may object because it is a blood-based treatment
Until recently, cord blood was considered a waste product
No religious objections with the exception of Jehovah Witnesses, who may object because it is a blood-based treatment
Embryonic stem cells create ethical, religious, and political debate
Their production requires the destruction of human embryos
Religions have objected to the procurement and use of these cells
Their production requires the destruction of human embryos
Religions have objected to the procurement and use of these cells
Expense
Stem cell extraction from umbilical cord blood
is a laboratory procedure done by experienced scientists
Storage is relatively easy and inexpensive
Storage is relatively easy and inexpensive
Highly skilled scientists and sophisticated laboratory equipment is required for extraction of embryonic stem cells from the embryos
Process is complicated and expensive
Process is complicated and expensive
Medical
Used thousands of times to successfully treat over 80 different diseases worldwide
Embryonic stem cells have not been used in the medical treatment of disease in humans
