Stem Cells, Why Not?
Stem cells are one of today's top political controversies. They have the potential to save the lives and improve the quality of life for millions of people. Countless diseases could be cured through the advancement of stem cell research, like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, brain damage, muscle damage, and a host of other debilitating ailments. With all theses reasons to fund stem cell research, one might ask why has our government not begun facilitating and funding stem cell research? I myself, know very little about the controversies, but I will tell you about what I do know. In my opinion politics is getting in the way of safe ethical research, I do stress however that this is just my opinion.
There are two specific types of stem cells embryonic and adult or somatic stem cells. Somatic cells are those found in the tissues of adults and can not differentiate as easily as embryonic cells. The embryonic stem cells are found in the blastocyst stage of developing embryos. The bastocyst stage occurs within the first 4 to 5 days of a women's pregnancy. These embryonic cells have the potential to save lives. These cells can differentiate into any other cell in the body. From skin, to neurons, to organ tissues. Those suffering from brain damage, or any trauma in general could use stem cells to regenerate areas of the body that conventional medicine can't. There are obstacles that have yet to be overcome. Scientifically obstacles could be hurdled simply by more research. They still need to find out how to keep the body from rejecting stem cells and how to make stem cells differentiate into a specific cell type. It wouldn't be that great to have pancreatic cells growing on your brain. I believe our political views on the matter will set stem cell research farther back that our scientific obstacles.
Politically, stem cell research has gained a bad reputation because of its closely related ties to abortion. Abortion has been a controversial subject in our nation for decades and since the main source of stem cells would come from aborted embryos, it too has become a hot button issue. Its frustrating to me that since in our country abortion is legal, but the procuring of stem cells from the aborted embryos is illegal. If your going to allow for an abortion to occur why not allow that abortion to help the advancement of science. Of course using the embryo for science should be completely up to the women carrying the embryo. I just don't understand the opinions of certain people in our nation sometimes, it just seems like they don't see the big picture or even the small picture for that matter. Stem cells will save and help so many lives and should be funded and facilitated.
Some politicians in our country are very backwards even when faced with strong scientific evidence, be it stem cell research or the theory of evolution. However, there is still hope because scientists are resourceful people. In January of 2008 there were two major break throughs in stem cell research. Human embryonic stem cells were extracted without the destruction of the embryo itself. Then scientists completely skipped over using embryos and were able to clone blastocysts from adult somatic stem cells. Stem cells are most certainly the future no matter what, politics can only slow it down.
-Tom Farese
posted by PWH @ 1:22 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I agree with the views that you presented about stem cell research. I don't understand why the government is not ready to fund such a project when it will benefit the people. Its sad that they are willing to spend large sums of money to kill our people by sending them overseas, but are not willing to spend much money on necessary medical and educational advancements. Your text is detailed and well-written, but you might want to put your name or alias at the end.
Posted by Vanessa Raphaël (1)
I think that you made some great points in your post. It does seem pretty stupid that we allow people to get abortions but do not allow the use of the stem cells for research. I understand that many people have religious and/or moral objections to abortion, but if that is the case they still shouldn't prevent the use of stem cells that could potentially save lives. Great post, did you get this information from an article?
Posted by Ben Tummino (1)
It is ridiculous that the government is not funding stem cell research. I was curious as to what are the controversies and reasons the government has delayed in participating in stem cell research. Maybe you can find a good source and post a link about the controversy. Just a suggestion, I don’t want this to become a political blog. This topic is very interesting and your post is well written.
Posted by Carlos V.
I have had a interest in stem cell research for a few years now. I'm pleased to so my views on the subject are shared among fellow students. McCain a presidential front runner is pro stem cell research. Europe has had a unrestricted study of stem cells and have done amazing things with them. The U.S. study of stem cells is restricted to a few strains of cells studied before they were outlawed by Bush. This article is very professional only advice is a name to get credit for it.
Posted by John Reilly
The ethical issue would be defining the point where life begins--if it starts at conception, then abortion is terrible, and destroying an embryo for embryonic stem cell research would be using a newly-formed human being. From my experience, abortion and embryonic stem cells are infuriatingly connected, the pro-life crowd is usually anti-stem-cell too. Even so, many people living in the United States are scientifically illiterate, and may not understand what is going on, and why it can be ethical, or even helpful.
posted by katgor
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