Stem Cell Research

1350 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Morals and ethics surrounding stem cells

The existence of stem cells first entered the public domain in 1963 when University of Toronto biophysicists Ernest McCulloch and James Till published their theory and experiment resulting in “Nature” (McCulloch, Till 1963). In the decades after, global initiatives into stem cell research have produced large strides in scientific understanding and use in medical treatments of disease and injuries. However, while many medical researchers believe that stem cell treatments have the potential to change how the human race cares for diseases, there is a loud voice that cries out against a particular practice in stem cell research and treatment. It is this voice that has proven substantial enough to restrict research efforts on a global scale in controversy; specifically human embryonic stem cells. Stem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms. Through a process known as mitosis, stem cells can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and then self-renew to produce more stem cells. By definition, the abilities to renew (self-renewal) and to differentiate into specialized cell types (cell potency) are the required properties of stem cells. Potency is specified into five differentiation potentials, totipotent, pluripotent, mulipotent, oligopotent, and unipotent. Totipotent, or omnipotent stem cells can differentiate into embryonic and extraembryonic cell types and are produced from the fusion of an egg and sperm cell. Pluripotent stem cells are descended from totipotent cells and can differentiate into almost all cells. Multipotent cells can also differentiate into a number of cells, but only those of a related family of cells. Olgopotent stem cells and unipotent are found to have eve... ... middle of paper ... ...ioethics/Quotes-on-Stem-Cell-Research-from-Political,-Religious-and-Other-Prominent-Figures.aspx 5."Arguments For Stem cell Research". Spinneypress. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-02-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20080201224807/http://www.spinneypress.com.au/178_book_desc.html. Retrieved 2007-12-26. 6.Kant. Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. In: Gregor MJ, trans. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant, Practical Philosophy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UniversityPress; 1996:4:429. 7.Deriving Stem Cells Without Killing Embryo". Medical News Today. 2006. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=50329. Retrieved 2007-12-26. 8.Wade, Nicholas (June 6, 2007). "Biologists Make Skin Cells Work Like Stem Cells". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/science/06cnd-cell.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2007-12-26.

Show More
Related

  • Stem Cell Research: A Christian Perspective

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    The body is composed of cells, which form the basic unit of life. Unique cells found in the body are the stem cells. These cells are biological cells that are not specialized for particular functioning in organisms. They can be distinguished since they have the ability to differentiate or divide into multiple body cells, and their ability to replicate self. They are unique in the way they can renew themselves by undergoing cell division when inactive for a long period. It is also possible to induce stem cells to organs or tissue cells under some conditions. When the cells divide, they replenish the cells in a living organism. They serve as an internal system that repairs and replaces the tissues that are worn out.1 Dividing cells may remain as stem cells or become specialized in their functions, for instance red blood cells, brain or muscle cells.

    Read More

  • Kant and Mill’s Positions on Capital Punishment

    1862 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kant, Immanuel, and Mary J. Gregor. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • Deontology and Utilitarianism: Ethical Theories for Nurses

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Johnson, R. (2013). Kant’s moral philosophy. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2013 Edition). Zalta, E. (Ed.). Retrieved online from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/kant-moral/

    Read More

  • Human Embryo Research

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    Late one night a woman is driving home on the freeway, she’s hit head on by a drunk driver and killed. The man is charged with two accounts of murder; the woman, and her four-week-old embryo inside her. By law, everyone human being is guaranteed rights of life; born or unborn they are equal. The same law should be enforced concerning human embryonic stem cell research. Dr. James A. Thomson discovered stem cells in 1998 and they’ve intrigued scientist ever since. The stem cells themselves are derived from a three to four day old cluster of cells called a blastocyst and they are so coveted because they are pluripotent, meaning they can differentiate into any type of cell in the human body. Although embryonic stem cells show amazing potential to cure various disease such as cancer, congestive heart failure, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophies, and more. The methods by which they are obtained is controversial. Research on embryonic stem cells is unethical, unnecessary, and purely homicide.

    Read More

  • Aristotle's versus Kant's Categories of the Temperate, the Continent, the Incontinent, the Vicious and the Bestial

    2179 Words  | 5 Pages

    Johnson, R 2014, ‘Kant's Moral Philosophy,’ The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Spring Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), .

    Read More

  • Stem Cell Research

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stems cells are immature cells found in embryos that can develop into any kind of specialized cells. They can form virtually any cell of the human body. These types of stem cells are known as pluripotent cells. Multipotent cells are stem cells that are more mature; they can be found in adults and children. Multipotent cells are not as flexible as pluripotent cells, as they have already developed into more specialized human cells.

    Read More

  • The Government Should Fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research

    2402 Words  | 5 Pages

    Francis (Ed.), At Issue. Should the Government Fund Embryonic Stem Cell Research?. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. (2009). (Reprinted from, n.d.) (Reprinted from Science Magazine, 22 September 2006) Retrieved from http://padme.cochise.edu:2067/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&prodId=OVIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010587207&userGroupName=sier28590&jsid=67271fc8c381f89007dff41cfd3813e6

    Read More

  • The Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals. Trans. H. J. Paton. 1964. Reprint. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Thought, 2009. Print.

    Read More

  • Politics and Stem Cell Research

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    This report does a fairly comprehensive job on educating the public to the definition of stem cells, describing them as “a diverse group of remarkable multipotent cells that are relatively undifferentiated and unspecialized cells of the body.” Stem cells have the capacity for unlimited self-renewal and the possibility to produce differentiated descendant cell types. The main in...

    Read More

  • Stem Cells Should Not Be Used Therapeutically

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ethical issues behind the method in which stem cells are obtained out weigh the benefits of stem cell therapy. We should not try to play God, in the aspect of creation of living beings just to be sacrificed for the “betterment of mankind”. Many egregious acts have been committed under the guise of “the greater good”. This is one instance in which the ends do not justify the means.

    Read More

  • Stem Cells: The Future of Medicine

    3294 Words  | 7 Pages

    Monroe, Kristen, et al., eds. Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical and Political Issues. Los Angeles/Berkley: University of California Press, 2008. Print

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    This report aims to investigate the different views held on the pros and cons of development in stem cell research. This report will provide background to the debate, its social significance, parties that are involved and analysis of the arguments related to the topic researched.

    Read More

  • Genetic Engineering

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Anderson, Ryan. "Stem Cells: A Political History." First Things. First Things, November, 2008. Web. 10 Feb 2012.

    Read More

  • A Defense of Euthanasia

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    O’Neill, Onora. “Kantian Ethics.” A Companion to Ethics. Ed. Peter Singer. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1991. 175-185. Print.

    Read More

  • Kant's Categorical Imperative

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘Kantian Ethics’ in [EBQ] James P Sterba (ed) Ethics: the Big Questions, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998, 185-198. 2) Kant, Immanuel. ‘Morality and Rationality’ in [MPS] 410-429. 3) Rachel, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy, fourth edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

    Read More

More about Stem Cell Research

Open Document