Things I didn't know I didn't know I didn't know I didn't know @_@

So after some more research, I have complied a list of things I didn't know I didn't know about embryonic stem cell research.

~Scientists at Harvard have discovered a way to harvest embryonic stem cells without destroying a fertilized embryo. This new process involves fusing blank stem cells, egg cells with their nucleus removed, with adult skin cells to create the blastocyst from which the stem cells are derived. Researchers believe that it will take up to ten years to perfect this process. (From http://usliberals.about.com/)

This progress seems to offer a compromise between the two sides in the embryonic stem cell research debate. The process yields undifferentiated stem cells (embryonic stem cells) without destroying a fertilized embryo.

~Embryonic stem cell research is legal in the US, just not government funded. (see above for source)

~Adult stem cells are currently the only kind of stem cell used to treat diseases today, usually in bone marrow transplants. (from the NIH website)

~Some anti-embryonic stem cell groups believe that even a sperm and an egg, as separate things, are complete people. (from religioustolerance.org)

~Embryonic stem cells that have been stored over a long period of time have been known to develop the kind of chromosomal abnormalities that can create cancer cells. (from allaboutpopularissues.org)