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Ethics of Stem Cell Research
Stem cell research has quickly become a hot new topic these days to debate over. One side says it’s unethical, the other side says it’s critical to the advancement of medical science. It’s hard to make up your mind before you have the facts, so here they are.
Stem cells are cells that have the ability to transform into any type of tissue cell in the human body. After a sperm fertilizes an egg, the cell they form is known as a zygote or a totipotent cell. This cell goes through numerous mitotic divisions and after about four days forms a blastocyst. This blastocyst has an outer layer and an inner layer, part of which is hollow. The outer layer grows to form what will become the placenta. The cells contained in the inner layer are known as pluripotent cells. They are what the term stem cell generally refers to. These pluripotent cells cannot survive by themselves. But they do have the ability to form most of the tissues needed fro the embryo’s survival. It is these cells that scientists are interested in. they say that if these cells are isolated away from the embryo, they can be theoretically coaxed to turn into a special type of cell, for example a nerve cell, or a brain cell, or a blood cell. But there is a hitch involved. If you take these cells out of an embryo, the embryo will die, much like if you take out the heart of a man to give to another, the donor will die. It is on this fact that the opposition to stem cell research bases its cause on, to stop the killing of embryos just for scientific research. But on the other hand, scientists say that by using this universal cell, they can develop cures fro many diseases, such as Parkinson’s, or diabetes, or heart disease. Also, the development of stem cells into certain kinds of cells is controlled by so called “on, off genes”. Scientists say that the same type of genes are responsible for the development of tumors which lead to cancer, and if research can be done on these stem cell on/off genes, and they can figure out how they work, then a cure for cancer is possible.
Not all stem cells come from embryos. So anti-stem cell researchers have proposed the idea of researching on adults, since adults also have stem cells in their bodies.
Over the past decade scientist and the U.S government have been debating about funds for stem cell research (SCR), the amount spent depends on who is in office. The Democratic Party fully supports SCR, but the Republican Party somewhat opposes the concept of SCR, arfuing it violates the Christian principle of life. As a result, this topic is considered controversial, but also beneficial if allowed. Despite the controversy, SCR should be well funded for medicinal use, because blank stem cells (SC) can be used to regenerate bones and muscle tissue, they can be used to control or even reverse neurodegenerative disease, and because they can be used for therapeutic cloning.
The conflict surrounding stem cell research is, with ethical consideration, whether it is a good or bad. The majority of Americans are advocates due to the possibilities of medical advancement, thus saving thousands of lives. Those in opposition believe that it is against
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can differentiate themselves into specific cell type. There are two types of stem cells. The first one is the adult's stem cell. These stem cells can be found in various places in an adult human body, like the brain, the bone marrow or the liver. The other type of stem cells is the embryonic stem cells. These cells are found in embryos before its implantation in the mother's uterus. At this stage the embryo is divided in two types of cell. The first one is the outer cluster of cell that forms the embryo that will become part of the placenta once the embryo hatch. And the inner cluster is the source of embryonic stem cell since it consists of undifferentiated cell that will divide and differentiate to form all the organs and tissue needed in an adult organism. As stem cell are undifferentiated cell they can become whatever cell type is needed in an organism and could be the solution to diseases that are, at this date, incurable. (Medical News Today, 2013). Most of the ethic's problem of the stem cells researches come from the embryonic stem cell researches and how the cells are collected. Embryonic stem cells can be obtained in several ways. The first one is after a couple's fertility treatment, there might be some embryos left and the couple can decide to donate their embryos to research. The second option is to collect stem cells from a foetus after an abortion. And the last possibility is to use therapeutic cloning. Using an ovum from witch the nucleus was taken off and the nucleus of a somatic cell, the origin of this cell in the body doesn't matter, it can come from the skin for example, it is possible to create an embryo and get the stem cell from the created embryo. But in all of...
Stem cell research can date back to 1956 and has lead to multiple medical breakthroughs. Stem cells are generic animal cells that can make copies of themselves indefinitely. Therefore, these cells have to ability to become any body part or organ (Cowan). But, getting this resource is what brings up a controversy. Scientists and researchers are gathering human embryos to further study and test stem cells and some people don’t agree with this. The end result of using embryonic stem cells is someone being able to walk again, someone remembering the names of their children, and someone being able to say that he beat cancer. Stem cell research is beneficial to society and should be accepted into labs all around the world.
A stem cell is a cell in the body that can differentiate into almost any other type of cell in the body. Stem cells come from sites in the bone marrow, as well as the tissues of developing fetuses. The most controversial issue in stem cell therapy is the use of fetuses for their stem cells. Scientists want to clone human embryos, and use the stem cells long before the embryo matures (when it is only about 36 cells). This causes a large amount of unease in society, because people fear that stem cells and therapeutic cloning will lead us into disgusting and horrible experimental practices, as well as therapies. Most people in America do not want this horrible vision of the future to come true, so they want all stem cell technology and research banned.
Embryonic stem cell research is the medical study of cells taken from embryos before they are able to implant into a uterus. This procedure – harvesting the cells – ultimately destroys the embryo rendering it non-viable and unable to sustain life. Adult stem cell research is simply the study of stem cells harvested from adults and used in many areas of medicine. Numerous groups are opposed this sort of research because they feel it infringes on the right to life, while others do not believe that an embryo that has spent five days in a petri dish should be considered a human. In the 1800’s the first discovery of stem cells occurred. This discovery proved that some cells could spawn other cells. However, it was not until the early 1900’s that research demonstrated stem cells could generate blood cells. This was very promising in the medical community at that time since so many diseases ran rampant and were incurable. During the infancy of stem cell research, both animal and human stem cells were used. Now, for medic...
The study of stem cells have brought about many recent ethical questions and been a topic in many recent ethical debates. What is all the talk about? What exactly is stem cell research and why does it raise so many ethical questions?
Over the past years, stem cell research has been very famous through the scientific community and the media. Stem cells are pluripotent cells that are present in every single organism on Earth. The power of stem cells are beyond imagination. Stem cells have the power to turn into any type of cells. Some examples are, blood cells, nerves, cardiac muscles, and the list goes on and on. The scientific community has recently taken a large interest in stem cells. They have used stem cells to treat horrible misfortunes that people have been diagnosed with. Some examples of the diseases that are being treated by the use of stem cells are, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal cord issues, strokes, diabetes, damaged organs, and even cancer! However, despite the infinite potential for medical treatments, the topic of stem cells is surrounded by enormous amounts of controversy. The questions that feed the controversy are about how the stem cells are acquired and about how the gained knowledge would be used. However, it is necessary for mankind to keep stem cell research alive in order to save lives while taking care of any unethical topics about it.
What is stem cell research? It starts with an embryo. An embryo is created when a male sperm and a female egg are joined. A large number of embryos already exist outside the natural environment. They are the product of a process called in vitro fertilization, which helps many couples conceive children. When doctors match sperm and egg to create life outside the womb, they usually produce more embryos than are planted in the mother. Once a couple successfully has children, or if they are unsuccessful, the additional embryos remain frozen in laboratories. Some will not survive during long storage; others are destroyed. A number have been donated to science and used to create privately funded stem cell lines.
Within the past few years, scientist have made several breakthroughs with human stem cells. These breakthroughs have catapulted the issue of stem cell research into the middle of a national debate. Most people have no problem with the research itself, however the source of the stem cells (adult or human embryos) used in research is the primary cause of the debate. Some people feel that destroying an embryo is comparable to murder, even if the research it promotes may help people with serious illnesses. Other believe that an embryo is not a person and therefore research on an embryo is the same as research on any other group of cells.
However despite this, it should be known that most scientists are not trying to change the human race, but instead are trying to fix the biological hiccups in DNA such as genetic diseases and cancer. Stem Cell research is the future of healthcare and has already led to several medical advancements such as the invention of synthetic insulin. “Scientists have discovered that embryonic stem cells have the potential to cure spinal cord injuries, as well as diseases such as juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson's” (Mendez, “Stem Cell Research,” 18). There are literally endless possibilities for stem cells hidden behind a metaphorical locked door and in order to better understand them, we first need to unlock that door, and the key is hidden somewhere within embryonic stem
Stem cell research should be allowed on adults but not on humans. Only allowed on humans who are willing to be a part of the stem cell research but no one should be used against their own will. Embryos should not be used for embryonic stem cell research. An embryo being used for their stem cells and then discarded devalues that human life. This follows along the same unethical issue as abortion. When stem cells are removed from human embryos, a unique individual dies. However, if abortion is legal in the state that this research is conducted than research may be conducted on only aborted fetuses. That would be an...
Stem cell research is one of the most controversial topics, people oppose it because they think that the destruction of an embryo is the same as abortion. They believe that the embryo constitutes life because it has the potential to fully develop into a human being. I personally think that life begins when the baby takes its first breath out of the womb. Once a baby is aborted, it is going to be deposed of. So, if it is going to be wasted, then why not use the stem cells from the embryos to help people? Also, it is important to do research on embryonic stem cells because it increases our knowledge on how cancer and birth defects form. Plus, these cells are undifferentiated, allowing them to be used in all parts of the body, giving them the
What do you know about stem cell research? If you know anything at all, it’s most likely that you know that it is a heavily debated topic. But, what exactly is stem cell research, and what is the issue with it? Stem cells are cells in organisms (more specifically humans) that can develop into any type of cell that an organism needs, and stem cell research is simply the study and analysis of these cells. The main controversy caused by this lays with how these cells are required for research. Some people do not agree with the methods they are obtained and the sources they are obtained from, more specifically those that are taken from human embryo’s.
"What Are Stem Cells?" University of Nebraska Medical Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Aug. 2014.