Yes, it is really unfortunate that this misnomer has seized the  public's 
imagination.  Yvonne Perry explains this well too in the YouTube video site 
I posted wherein she summarizes Right to Recover, her prize winning book. 
It is true that "blastocyst" conjures up the image of an entity or "tissue" 
when it is impossible to see without a microscope.

Ray

Rayilyn Brown
Director AZNPF
Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
[log in to unmask]

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Kathleen Cochran" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 9:27 AM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Blastocysts are not people

> Just read this, having been away...
>
> Well said. Absolutely. For the life of me, I can't understand why the term
> "embryonic" has beome attached to stem cell research, since a blastocyst
> does not become an embryo—as you point out, Ray—until implantation.
>
> Here is what Wikipedia says:
>
> "The *blastocyst* is the structure formed in early
> embryogenesis<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryogenesis>,
> after the formation of the 
> blastocoel<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blastocoel>,
> but before implantation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implantation>.
>
> It possesses an inner cell mass, or
> embryoblast<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_cell_mass>which
> subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer cell mass, or
> trophoblast <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophoblast> which forms the
> placenta <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placenta>. The human blastocyst
> arises after compaction and comprises 70-100
> cells<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29>.
> It is preceded by a zygote <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygote>, the
> fertilized egg cell, and succeeded by an
> embryo<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryo>."
>
>
> `'``subsequently"..."succeeded by"...These words indicate that the
> blastocyst is not an embryo. An embryo will develop only if implantation
> occurs.
>
> Biologyonline.org says:
>
> "Upon arrival in the uterus, the zygote fuses itself to the uterine wall. 
> At
> this point, cells of the zygote differentiate into two distinct types
>
>   - *Embryoblast Cells* - These cells continually divide into what will
>   become the embryo, the baby itself
>   - *Trophoblast Cells* - These cells form the placenta, that form against
>   the uterine wall"
>
> This also indicates that without implantation, there is no embryo.
>
> From* IUPUI: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis,* here is a
> detailed timeline of human biological development with diagrams and 
> photos.
> It shows that the embryo does not start to form until Day 10 after
> fertilization.
>
> http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/n100/2k4ch39repronotes.html
>
> In fertility clinics, blastocyst implantation into a woman's uterus occurs
> around Day 5 after in vitro fertilization (Source: WebMD). At that point
> extra blastocysts may be frozen. These frozen blastocysts are what some
> would have thrown away rather than used for research.
>
> They are not embryos.
> Kathleen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 2009/1/7 rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]>
>
>> This was my answer to an opponent of ESCR:
>>
>> Diane received the letter after my response to it as an answer to Don's
>> McCain on Stem Cells:
>>
>> Gary
>>
>> You said, "whenever we eliminate the embryo we have definitively 
>> eliminated
>> the human being into which it would have developed? Whether it is worth 
>> the
>> cost of one human life to prolong the life of another should be left up 
>> to
>> the person whose life is thus to be eliminated. And that means one had
>> better wait a bit."
>>
>> Those of us who support embryonic stem cell research do not believe a
>> blastocyst is a person any more than an acorn is an oak tree.  Every seed
>> does not become a plant nor does every blastocyst become a person unless 
>> the
>> conditions of implantation and successful development until live birth 
>> occur
>> are met.   Not all seeds sprout.  You cannot ask a blastocyst whether it 
>> is
>> worth using it for research because it is a few microscopic 
>> undifferentiated
>> human cells that, will NEVER,  if left alone in a petri dish become
>> anything.
>>
>>  What you are doing is protecting cellular human life - seeds - at the
>> expense of actual persons whose lives have been destroyed by disease or
>> injury and are not asking that their lives be "prolonged" but made 
>> bearable.
>>
>> I can't think of anyone who would favor destroying people for research.
>>  But cells are not people.  They are potential life.  ALL cells are, not
>> just germ cells.
>>
>> Are scientists playing "God" by manipulating cells?  Probably, but many
>> people believe man was created in God's image and was given the gift of
>> intelligence to heal himself by God.  I would suggest that if you oppose
>> life saving research you rely solely on prayer and let the rest of us 
>> have
>> the benefits of science..
>>
>>
>> Rayilyn Brown
>> Director AZNPF
>> Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> Rayilyn Brown
>> Director AZNPF
>> Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
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