Stem Cell Research

Thesis Statement

This is a highly important and delicate issue, which concerns our future and the future of our children.

Introduction

The issue whether stem cell research should be stopped or carried on has been internationally debated upon since the mid 1960's, when R. G. Edwards and colleagues at Cambridge University began studying differentiation in rabbit embryonic cells in vitro. Whether we let those who are born without an immune system stay as they are or let those who were expected to remain paralyzed for their life be as they were taking it as God's will.

It was God's will that the stem cells were found in the first place, as a ray of hope for those who never thought that they would ever be able to see or walk again or live with a deadly disease that takes the life out of you every passing day. This essay will consider arguments for the continuing of Stem Cell Research and point to some of the problems with these views. (Brecher, 205)

Main Body

There are over 4,000 registered diseases specifically linked to genetic abnormalities, as well as a host of others, which are thought to have a genetic component. Yet, although stem cells are unlikely to provide fast-track miracle cures for these conditions - and are even less likely to lead to a cure for all known human disease, as certain commentators have speculated - they are unique in their potential application to a large number of these diseases. (Warkentin, 250)As tiny factories that have an ability to “re-stock” themselves when required and develop a wide range of specialisms, stem cells meet the technical specifications for use in gene therapy.

Scientists have recently found evidence that they can make stem cells grow into specific tissue, including cells that produce insulin in the pancreas to treat diabetes, and nerve cells to repair severed spinal cords. (Warkentin, 250) But in 1996, federal funding for the research was banned because of ethical and moral concerns in Congress. The regulations allowed government researchers to use stem cells that are now discarded byproducts of in-vitro fertilization. Advocates said that stem-cell research is more likely to be ethically performed under the auspices of government, (Morstyn, 617) rather than in the private sector, which some suggest would be dangerously unsupervised.

Stem cells could be used in order to create new and stronger muscle tissue in those with degenerative disorders, ...