DeLay Misleading in Stem Cell Fight

Use of the word "embryonic'' in the ongoing stem-cell debate is misleading. The human egg becomes an embryo when it implants in the mother's uterus five to six days after fertilization. Since the development of human tissue morphology begins at implantation, the implanted embryo is not optimal for the harvesting of stem cells. The stem cells with greatest medical potential develop within eight divisions, before the fertilized egg implants. The "emerging human embryo" then consists of 256 cells, some of which form the inner membrane of a one- to two-tenths of a millimeter shell called a blastocyst; the remaining cells - in a cavity within this tiny living shell - are the stem cells to be harvested.Since no morphology occurs in the blastocyst, no blood exists, there's no other tissue in this assembly of cells, no limbs, no nervous system. Consciousness cannot exist; there's no possibility of human sensibility, no beating heart. Stem-cell research does not involve "the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings," as Tom DeLay described it before the U.S. House of Representatives.

CHARLES A. ANDRADE

Galloway Township

(Editor's note: Charles Andrade has a doctorate in engineering and a master's in physics. He was a senior research scientist with the Martin Marietta team that designed the Viking Lander to find life on Mars.)

Letter Published in Atlantic City Press, June 4, 2005

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/columns/060405LETTSSATJUN4.cfm