I'm sure most of you, if you don't know me personally, have figured out that I am a Christian and I am fairly conservative politically. Most of you also know, if you have been coming here for any length of time, that the purpose of this blog is not political but to strengthen the family. Sometimes, however, the two cannot be seperated and I feel that this is one of those times.

Before I go any further, let me tell you that I am for stem cell research - just not research using embryos - discarded from fertility clinics or aborted and especially those created only for the purpose of research to be created and then killed. I feel that life begins at conception and should be valued from the moment that the first cell splits to make two. 

I feel, in my limited reading on the subject, that umbilical cord blood and other stem cell sources are just as valuable and can be used just as effectively without the need to create life and then destroy it. 

I will say no more on the subject. I have many friends who have Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease and other things that stem cell research could help in the future. Perhaps some of the problems that my own children have can be helped by this type of research in the future. I only pray that this experimentation can be done in an ethical way.

With all of that said, I would like to direct you to a link from BBC News on the development of synthetical blood using stem cell research. I found the side bar "Making Fake Blood from Embryos" most compelling as it states that the "Embryo created from IVF is tested for O-negative blood group, then allowed to develop for several days until stem cells can be extracted". Of course we know that when the stem cell is extracted, the embryo is destroyed. Just press on any of the mentions of BBC News in this blog entry to connect with the article.

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