Stem Cell Research

Stem Cell Research

Stem cell research can produce new favorable developments for medical therapies for enervating diseases and can be a new way to explore fundamental questions of biology. There are three sources of stem cells - adult, fetal tissue and embryo. Stem cells are self-renewing cells that with proper growth conditions can be made to differentiate into a number of different cell types with specific biological functions. The cell is capable of regenerating an entire adult organism by itself. Research on human embryonic stem cells, however, is controversial, given the diverse views held in our society about the moral and legal status of the early embryo. The controversy has encouraged provocative and conflicting claims both inside and outside the scientific community about the biology and biomedical potential of both adult and embryonic stem cells.

The history of stem cell research dates back to the mid 1800's when scientists began to recognize that the cell was the basic building block of life and that cell produced other cells. Meanwhile European scientists realized that all blood cells came from one particular "stem cell". This occurred in the early 1900's. In 1998 researchers at the University of Wisconsin, led by James Thomson, isolated and grew stem cells from human embryos and researchers from Johns Hopkins University, led by John Gearhart, did the same with human germ cells.

Currently "bone marrow transplants" actually a transplant of stem cells and wide variety of diseases, fetal verve cells have been transplanted experimentally into the brains of people with Parkinson's disease for the past ten years. Just recently sources of cells that might be used to regenerate other organs became available.

Now stem cells hold the most promise for those diseased where cells are damaged or malfunctioning and might be replaced; for example Juvenile diabetes, stroke, spinal cord injuries and heart muscle damage following a heart attack.

There are other potential uses for stem cells besides directly replacing damaged organs and tissues. Pharmaceuticals could be screen on cultures of stem cells in the laboratory for example. The knowledge gained about how cells work in health and disease will be invaluable.

The debate over using Adult Stem cells versus embryonic stem cells has escalated over the past few years. When research first began, researchers were convinced that embryonic stem cells were far superior to Adult stem cells and could be easily converted to different tissues than Human Stem Cells. That position has changed significantly, and now research has indicated that Human Stem Cells can actually be converted easier than embryonic Stem Cells. Originally embryonic Stem Cells were considered to be the most versatile stem cells available and thought to be multipotent and able to give rise to every tissue, but by birth this capacity was permanently lost. Through recent research, scientists have discovered that Adult Stem Cells can generate and stimulate growth of a wide variety of tissues. This discovery would further reduce the argument for using Embryonic Stem Cells for future research.

Since Adult Stem cells are easily obtained from adults, there would be no need to use Human embryos, and the issue of sacrificing a fetus to obtain Stem cells would become mute. Since using embryonic Stem cells has become an extremely volatile subject which raises concerns ranging from ethical to some technical challenges, Adult stem cell research has become the primary focus of research, especially in the United States. Government has provided funding for private research of Adult Stem Cells, but has stipulated that this funding cannot be used for embryonic stem cell research.

Another problem in fighting the use of Embryonic Stem cells is the fact that stem cell research is developing so fast that many scientists are not aware of the progress and advancements by others who are conducting research. "The most interesting work is often unpublished, or waiting to be published. There is also of course commercial and reputational rivalry, which can on occasions tempt scientists to downplay the significance of other people's results (or their claims)."

As we move forward with Stem Cell Research, it is clear that more discoveries and data will become available which will continue to eliminate the support and reasoning for using embryonic stem cells instead of Adult stem cells.

The controversy lies between religious beliefs, emotions, morals, and ethical values that all human beings share. At some point in time that conceived embryo, was bound to be a person, and human being. Unfortunately opportunity did not present that chance for embryo to be able to go through the process of life. Philosophers have argued, "ensoulment" begins within 90 days of conceivement (Cyriac, K. 2004). Some people feel that stem cell research is a violation of nature's law (2004). People of ethics have mentioned time and time and in many different ways. Destruction of life to advance science and technology is inhumane. The moral principles of nature are affected negatively. Destroying