Embryonic Stem Cell Technologies

Somatic cell nuclear transfer is the traditionally used method of creating and harvesting stem cells and is the main stem cell technology to have created ethical controversy. In this stem cell technique an adult cell nucleus is inserted into an egg cell in place of the egg’s original cell nucleus in order to effectively create an embryo which is controlled by the donor’s nucleus. This effectively tricks the egg cell into thinking it has been fertilized and creates an embryo which is then destroyed as the stem cells are harvested.

An alternate stem cell technology has however been developed which removes the issue of embryo creation and destruction. Alternate nuclear transfer (ANT) is a technique which takes the nucleus of the somatic cell and alters it prior to its transferal to the egg cell. This alteration means that it can still produce the somatic cell DNA but cannot generate an embryo, thus removing the conflict as regards the creation and destruction of life. Some researchers argue that the technique of ANT effectively reduces the significance of the ‘right to life’ argument as it logically necessitates the extension of the idea of the sanctity of the embryo to the somatic cell DNA itself as both have the potential to produce life (Fennel, 2008).

Embryonic Stem Cell Technology for Blastomere Extraction

The development of stem cell technologies which allow scientists to extract stem cells from an embryo without destroying it also reduces some of the concern over embryonic stem cell use. This technique, developed by researchers from Advanced Cell Technology, involves the extraction of stem cells from the blastomere when the fertilized egg is only two-days old and has divided into just eight cells. Extracting stem cells from an embryo used to happen at a later stage of embryonic development where there were around 150 cells, including around 30 cells in the inner cell mass itself and this led to the destruction of the embryo. Removing just one of the eight blastomeres (cells) allows the embryo to still be implanted and leads to the development of a normal healthy baby. In fact, the blastomere is frequently removed during in vitro fertilization techniques in order to test the embryo for genetic abnormalities prior to implantation in the womb.

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