1.  What are stem cells?

• Stem cells are found in every living being.
• Able to replenish every part of the body.
• Can grow indefinitely.
• Without stem cells the average human being would die in two weeks.
• Very powerful tool for understanding and treating the human body.

2.  What is a stem cell line?

• Grouping of identical stem cells, grown for an indefinite period of time.
• Sold to scientists for research, many are patented.
• Can be "generic" i.e., undesignated cells or "specific" i.e., heart, neurological, or other tissue type cells.

 3.  What does multipotent and pluripotent mean?

• Multipotent means that a stem cell has the ability to become several different types of cells. Adult stem cells are multipotent.
• Pluripotent means that a stem cell has the ability to become every cell type in the body. These are the most effective stem cells to use.
• It has been thought that only embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, but many adult stem cells are also shown to be pluripotent.

 4.  Adult stem cells (ASC)

• Can be found in a toddler, teenager, middle aged or elderly person.
• Every organ has its own stem cells to regenerate itself.
• Can be manipulated into other bodily tissue.

 5.  Embryonic stem cells (ESC)

• Can only be found in embryos.
• Able to form every tissue type in the body.
• Grow quickly.
• Easy to manipulate into different types of cells. 

 6.  What is an embryo?

• Unique, human life created at moment of conception through the eighth week of gestation.
• After week eight, the child is referred to as a fetus.

7.  Does ESCR destroy human life?

• ESCR always results in the death of the human embryo.
• Even removing just one stem cell from a developing embryo is enough to result in its death. 

8.  Isn’t all stem cell research the same?

• No!
• There are two types: adult stem cell research (ASCR)  and embryonic stem cell research (ESCR)
• ESCR destroys human life, and cloning is almost always included in this research.
• ASCR is ethical stem cell research, because it does not destroy life. ASCR is the only type of stem cell research to have produced any treatments for diseases/conditions.
• Frequently, there isn’t any distinguishing of which stem cell research type is being discussed. Knowing which type is at hand is important, because of the ethical concerns involved in ESCR.

9.  What are iPS cells?

• In 2007, adult skin cells were reprogrammed back to a pluripotent stage.
• Called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS).
• iPS cells come directly from the person who needs them, so there are no rejection problems.

10.  Are placenta and umbilical cord blood considered a source of embryonic stem cells?

• No!
• The only source of embryonic stem cells are embryos themselves. All other stem cells are adult stem cells, even placenta and umbilical cord blood.
• More information on cord blood banking and costs.

11.  What does cloning have to do with stem cell research?

• Stem cells are most effective when they are a genetic match.
• Cloning makes genetic matches possible.
• ESCR almost always includes therapeutic cloning but not necessarily reproductive cloning.
• Both uses of the clone make the human person a mere commodity.

12.  What is SCNT?

• An acronym for Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer / Transplantation.
• It is the scientific term for a cloning.
• Process by which a nucleus is removed from an unfertilized egg and replaced with the nucleus of an adult cell. The now fertilized egg follows the normal process of development and is an exact genetic match to the donor.
• Dolly the sheep was created through the SCNT process.
• Used for both therapeutic and reproductive cloning.
• This term is often used instead of the word cloning in discussions to confuse the average person. Don’t be fooled--any piece of legislation that includes SCNT includes cloning.

13.  What is therapeutic cloning?

• Process of creating cloned embryos through SCNT.
• Embryos are allowed to grow for approximately four days and then killed for its cells.
• Some claim that therapeutic cloning is not really cloning, since the tiny human life only grows to four days old.
• Essentially results in cloning and killing simply to provide "material" for research.
• Many states are trying to legalize therapeutic cloning. Missouri passed a constitutional amendment to allow therapeutic cloning in 2006, under the name of SCNT.

14.  What is reproductive cloning?

• Process of creating cloned embryos through SCNT.
• Embryos grow to about 14 days and are then placed in womb.
• Resulting embryo is an exact replication of the donor and has the possibility to grow into a normal healthy child.
• Not yet successful in human beings.

15.  The real political debate: who pays?

• Millions of private dollars are being spent all over the world and the country on both adult and embryonic research.
• Limited amounts of state and federal dollars are being spent on this research.
• The real question is whether or not more tax dollars should go to the questionable and unethical use of embryonic stem cells.

16. Can stem cells cure diseases?

• No.
• No cures have been found using ESCR nor ASCR.
• There have been treatments derived from ASCR only.
• More than 20 years of embryonic stem cell research has yielded no treatments.

17.  What treatments have resulted from stem cell research?

• Adult stem cell research has found treatments for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, various types of cancer and many other conditions. 
• There have been no successful treatments in humans from embryonic stem cell research.

18.  Can stem cell research cure Alzheimer’s disease?

• The media always claim stem cell research can cure Alzheimer’s but it almost certainly cannot.
• Until we understand how Alzheimer’s disease affects the brain we will not be able to find any cure for it.
• At best, stem cells would need to be transformed into Alzheimer’s cells and then studied for treatments.

19.  What kind of stem cell research is occurring in MN?

• Adult and embryonic stem cell research are legal in Minnesota.
• ACS lines and ESC lines are eligible for federal and state funding.
• ESCR currently being done in Minnesota is paid for with federal and private dollars.
• The U of M is one of the leaders in both ASCR and ESCR.

20.  What is the Kahn/Cohen cloning bill (H.F. 34/S.F. 100) from the 2007-2008 legislative session?

• In 2007, Rep. Phyllis Kahn and Sen. Richard Cohen introduced bills that would allow for embryonic stem cell research to be state funded and permit human cloning/SCNT (H.F. 34/S.F. 100).
• While amendments were offered in both the MN House and Senate that appeared to ban cloning, therapeutic cloning was still permitted under these phony cloning bans.
• By the end of the 2007 legislative session, the Senate passed the cloning bill (S.F. 100).
• In April 2008, there was a procedural vote in the House pertaining to the cloning bill (S.F. 100).
• On May 7, 2008 the House passed the bill (S.F. 100).
• Governor Pawlenty vetoed the bill.