2008 Woodie Awards
Is stem cell research OK? YES
Stem cell research benefits people with diseases and other health complication
By: Amber Jazmin
Issue date: 9/16/04 Section: Insight
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Stem cell research should continue because tens of millions of people all over the world are suffering from diseases such as: cancer, birth defects, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes, which scientists believe can be helped and eventually cured by discoveries made from stem cell research.
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can self-renew indefinitely and that can mutate to become any part of the body.
The big controversy is around embryonic stem cells, which are extracted from an embryo between five and seven days after its fertilization.
Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells (they can become anything) that occur in a tissue such as bone marrow or the brain, in the adult body, but are rare, difficult to find and to purify. Adult stem cells are also difficult to maintain in a laboratory setting.
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), also found in adults, self-renew continuously in the bone marrow. HSCs are also found in the fetal liver and spleen and in the umbilical cord and placenta blood.
The problem with the HSCs is that there aren't enough of them and the extraction procedures are complicated, time consuming and expensive.
However, many women have already begun to save their placenta and their baby's umbilical cord in "embryo banks" to insure the availability of the HSCs for their children.
Scientists agree that the embryonic stem cells are the best to do research on because they are pure, they self-renew indefinitely and they are easy to obtain.
There are also lots of frozen embryos that couples no longer want that are going to be destroyed (prevented from growing into humans) but it's not against the law.
Since destroying the embryo is not against the law, then using it to save lives would naturally be the most humane thing to do.
However, there are people who are against embryonic stem cell research.
Until 1969, Roman Catholics believed that life did not begin until the 40th day after conception, but then the Church changed its opinion.
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can self-renew indefinitely and that can mutate to become any part of the body.
The big controversy is around embryonic stem cells, which are extracted from an embryo between five and seven days after its fertilization.
Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells (they can become anything) that occur in a tissue such as bone marrow or the brain, in the adult body, but are rare, difficult to find and to purify. Adult stem cells are also difficult to maintain in a laboratory setting.
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), also found in adults, self-renew continuously in the bone marrow. HSCs are also found in the fetal liver and spleen and in the umbilical cord and placenta blood.
The problem with the HSCs is that there aren't enough of them and the extraction procedures are complicated, time consuming and expensive.
However, many women have already begun to save their placenta and their baby's umbilical cord in "embryo banks" to insure the availability of the HSCs for their children.
Scientists agree that the embryonic stem cells are the best to do research on because they are pure, they self-renew indefinitely and they are easy to obtain.
There are also lots of frozen embryos that couples no longer want that are going to be destroyed (prevented from growing into humans) but it's not against the law.
Since destroying the embryo is not against the law, then using it to save lives would naturally be the most humane thing to do.
However, there are people who are against embryonic stem cell research.
Until 1969, Roman Catholics believed that life did not begin until the 40th day after conception, but then the Church changed its opinion.