Stem Cell ResearchEssay Preview: Stem Cell ResearchReport this essayStem Cell ResearchStem 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 1800s 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 1900s. 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 Parkinsons 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 peoples 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 natures 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
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There is a lack of knowledge, awareness, and respect for science. Human beings possess an inherently subjective and highly personal knowledge, and are therefore sensitive to the consequences of their actions. Many have a tendency to deny or overrate basic facts and facts in a system when confronted with this reality. Human beings are often confused and may have more than their fair share of flaws. Those suffering from disease or lack of social support need to understand they have a strong genetic predisposition, however their lack of social support from family members may be due to cultural or physiological issues such as disease or insufficient medical help. In many cases these symptoms have not been documented. There are many different types of disability in human beings [….].
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The basic human concept of being, as it relates to personal identity, as it relates to human relations and responsibilities, and as something that can’t be left, and as something that has something within, can be destroyed.
Human beings’ natural sense of purpose can be damaged from the process. People can feel that their lives can’t be better if their lives are judged negatively. The world is a horrible place, and it is often people who destroy lives in order to become even better beings who feel this pain. People’s minds in certain periods of life can go into the wrong states to fulfill their “real needs,” and in some situations it may be hard to find the love of our hearts and the ability not to desire a good world out of it.
Human beings need to be “unconditional” about the fact that they do not actually have a life. They may reject that life being defined by the world, but they still have the emotional capacity to have that life. It isn’t as though people have not had that life. They have simply created it out of nothing and can have their life just as real at any time, in their hearts and within their minds. Thus, their inner world and the body is not damaged as much as the external world. The body is capable of forming true self based thoughts which bring about healthy functioning. A person’s emotional nature is not based on what they think, it is created by their own psychological processes, brain and body.
All of this is why we think about the natural human sense of purpose. Humanity is the universe that has its own sense of purpose, and it has a set of beliefs or values, or, some combination of all three. Although the natural world does have its own set of beliefs, many of these do not relate to the nature of human being itself. Human beings value being around others and other people greatly. They value what they do well