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Synthetic Embryo - Real Mouse Embryo — Real Mouse Embryo at 11 Days

Can a baby be produced in a laboratory without sperm and an egg? The answer for mice, at least, is a partial “yes.” Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israel produced a “lab-created womb” in which they placed mouse stem cells producing a mouse embryo. The synthetic embryo “lived” for eight days.

Researchers could coax stem cells into a placenta or yolk sac by treating stem cells with chemicals. Then other stem cells developed into organs and tissues without intervention by the researchers. Some turned into beating heart tissue or a rudimentary nervous system. However, 99.5% of the stem cells failed.

This kind of research has a practical purpose beyond producing a synthetic embryo. For example, scientists hope to eventually grow human organs in a synthetic womb to replace diseased organs for which no donor is available. Scientists have already used this system to produce rudimentary artificial kidneys and hearts, but they are not yet suitable for medical use. Researchers are also hoping to find a way to nurture premature babies outside of the mother’s womb.

It is not true that all human stem cells come from aborted babies. Stem cells can be derived from various cells in the human body and can even be secured, under the right conditions, from a person who has just died. These stem cells are called “induced pluripotent stem cells.”

Like many efforts to produce life, researchers are copying natural processes to create a synthetic embryo of a mouse. Scientists and engineers have copied God’s creation for many practical uses. We have frequently shown how engineers have copied what they see in nature to produce everything from Velcro to jet engines. The debate among philosophers and ethics professionals concerns philosophical and ethical problems with this type of medical research.

Over and over, the biblical writers challenge us to learn from the natural world. In Job chapters 38 to 41, we see God challenging Job to deal with the creation in which he was living. Proverbs 6:6 says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise.” In Proverbs 8:22-31, Wisdom challenges us to think about the design and planning of God’s creation.

The struggle to duplicate the design of reproduction that God built into living things shows us how impossible it is to believe that the original creation was the product of blind chance. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “We can know there is a God through the things He has made (Romans 1:20).

Reference: Global Research

For several years now we have talked about the morality of fetal stem cells and what they can be used for and where they come from. The original fetal stem cells came in many cases from aborted babies. The concern of many people was that if the medical establishment paid for fetal stem cells that women might find it financially lucrative to get pregnant, have an abortion, and sell the fetal stem cells. As research continued, it was discovered that a large percentage of stem cell treatments could be done successfully with adult stem cells. All of this was carefully controlled by the Food and Drug Administration and was based on good science.

A study released on June 30, 2016, by University of California stem cell scientists reports that 570 clinics are now offering stem cell treatments for things that in many cases have poor scientific support. An extreme example is the offering of cosmetics that will make your face look like a baby’s “because the stem cells came from the umbilical cord of a baby.” Not only are some of these claims probably not true, but they can be dangerous. Stem cells are cells that can grow into almost any kind of cell, and that makes them useful for medical purposes. The problem is that they can also grow into tumors and the tumors can migrate to other parts of the body.

God’s design of the human body is incredible, and over the years we have had numerous articles about that in the “Dandy Designs” section of our printed periodical. However, changing the use of what God has designed and created may sometimes be beyond human reach. At the very least, we need to move slowly and carefully as we try to change the use of or improve the function of God’s design. Data from Austin American-Statesman, July 3, 2016, page A8.
–John N. Clayton © 2017

Tag: stem cells

Synthetic Embryo and Synthetic Organs