Stem cells are precursors to specialized cells; so every muscle cell in your body, every brain cell in …show more content…
This means that the embryo has not yet affixed itself to the uterine wall. In the first four or so days of embryonic cell division, embryonic stem cells are considered totipotent. This means that it has the ability to turn into any cell and can give rise to a whole organism. After the first four days, embryonic stem cells become pluripotent, which means they can specialize into any sort of tissue cell but cannot give rise to a whole organism. Researchers typically use pluripotent embryonic stem cells. Due to the near limitless differentiation that embryonic stem cells are capable of, scientists, researchers, and medical professionals are studying the potential for cell-based regenerative therapies, tissue transplants, and the replacement of aged or diseased cells. However, there is an ethical dilemma. In the process of extracting embryonic stem cells from the blastocyst (source of embryonic stem cells) the embryo is subsequently destroyed. Those opposed to the cultivation of embryonic stem cells believe that destroying an embryo, even though it may be in vitro (ie: not in a womb), is tantamount to