STEM CELL RESEARCH LEGISLATION

Stem Cell Research Legislation

Stem Cell Research Legislation

This is about an amazing potential in medicine and health, the ability to eliminate any problem anywhere in your body by repairing it with perfectly good cells that are made by differentiating stem cells. Lets first start out by explaining exactly what stem cells are, where they came from, and why they are so important. Stem cells are blank cells that can develop into virtually any kind of cell in the human body. Most cells are specialized for one function, but stem cells have not gone through the process of being assigned a specific function.

They came about when researchers took sperm from a man and an egg from a woman and fertilized them in a petri dish for several days until they became a blastocyte, or a ball of cells. The researchers then took special cells out of the blastocyte and cultured them to produce stem cells. This is different than the previous way they cultured stem cells, before July 21, 2001, that being taking the undifferentiated cells from a dead fetus.

Research on stem cells began in November of 1998 when researchers were successful in isolating the stem cells in a lab. At first a select few scientists only realized the enormous potential of stem cells. Then, in the U.S. and other places all over the world stem cell funding and research went rampant. Here are some ideas and potential researched by scientists in other parts of the world; Australians make a huge stem cell breakthrough by discovering that stem cells are able to generate themselves into other, specialized cells, in particular the types of cells which naturally fight disorders or replace damaged or diseased cells. Before this research it was not known if mature brain cells could do this too.

Now, the new law allows researchers to create stem cells by cloning. All embryos involved in research must be destroyed after 14 days. JAPAN: The government approved guidelines last week (Aug 3) for stem cell research, a move likely to allow Japanese laboratories to start studies on building tissue from embryonic cells by the end of the year. The guidelines stipulate that embryonic cells used in research would be taken only from those made for fertility treatment that would otherwise be discarded. Research on cloning humans or creating sperm and ova is strictly banned. ISRAEL: There is no law regulating stem cell research in Israel and embryo destruction for stem cell research is allowed.

Scientists announced this month that they succeeded for the first time in growing heart cells from human embryonic stem cells. The heart cells can beat spontaneously, according to a report published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. In 1999, a law was passed prohibiting cloning humans for five years. AUSTRALIA: In June 2001 Australian federal and state health ministers agreed to draw up laws banning cloning nationwide, but they could not reach consensus on the issue of stem cell ...