Stem Cell Research Essay -- Current Events Argument Research Science E

Stem Cell Research Works Cited Not Included Stem cell research is a highly controversial topic that may hold the key to developing a cure for many cancers and diseases. In 1998, a group of scientists developed a technique to isolate and grow stem cells. The field is extremely new when compared with other fields. A few things need to be discussed before an argument can be made for or against stem cell research, the types of stem cells, the potential uses, and where funding should come from. There are many different types of stem cells and each one has a different role in promoting breakthroughs in the many diseases that can possibly be cured. All stem cells, including the embryonic and adult, have three properties in common: unspecialization, proliferation, and differentiation. Stem cells predilection towards being unspecialized entails it cannot do specialized functions like pump blood through the body or carry molecules of oxygen through the bloodstream. The process of replication, or dividing and renewing, for long periods of time is known as proliferation and normally does not occur in muscle, blood, nerve, or other types of cells. Differentiation occurs when internal signals trigger unspecialized stem cells to give rise to specialized cell. The two fundamental types of stem cells are embryonic and adult stem cells. Although the embryonic and adult stem cells have lots in common, they also have some differences, for example, embryonic stem cells can proliferate for a year or more in the laboratory with out differentiating, but most adult stem cells cannot (NIH Basics 1, 3-4). Embryonic stem cells are derived from four to five-day-old in vitro fertilized eggs, never from eggs fertilized in a women's body, d... ...on pro-life. We took something that was going to be destroyed and isolated cells from it that could improve the lives of people suffering from disease and trauma. I don`t know of any scientist who thinks this was a bad idea or that it should not have been done (Doug Melton Releases New Stem Cell Lines, 2)." The possibilities of curing so many diseases by far out ways the "ethical questions" that are easily fixed. Despite the touchy side of the stem cell controversy, that has poised some difficulties for scientists. Many remarkable discoveries have already been made. Stem cells quite possibly could hold a cure for everything from baldness to a variety of cancers to birth defects (NIH basics 1, 2). The limited amount of federal funding is restraining research though. Research on stem cells raises ethical questions as rapidly as it generates new discoveries.