Stem Cells

Question 1

What two types of stem cells are there?

Answer 1

Embryonic Stem cells and Adult stem cells

Question 2

What is a Embryonic stem cell?

Answer 2

A embryonic stem cell is a embryo that contains only a few cells

Question 3

What is a adult stem cell?

Answer 3

They are found in differentiated tissue, such as bone or skin - they divide to replace damaged cells

Question 4

What are the advantages for using embryonic stem cells for research?

Answer 4

• easy to extract from an embryo

- produce any type of cell

Question 5

What are the disadvantages for using embryonic stem cells for research?

Answer 5

• embryos are destroyed when the cells are removed (some people think that embryos have the right to life)
• body recognises the cells as different and will reject them without use of drugs

Question 6

What are the advantages for using adult stem cells for research?

Answer 6

• No embryo destroyed so not an ethical issue

- if taken from the person to be treated, will not cause rejection by the body

Question 7

What are the disadvantages for using adult stem cells for research?

Answer 7

• difficult to find and extract from tissue

- produce only a few types of cell

Question 8

What is advantages for using both stem cells for research?

Answer 8

Replace faulty cell with healthy cell so, person is well again

Question 9

What is a risk for using both stem cells for research?

Answer 9

May produce cancer cells instead of healthy cells