By:
Ross Thomson
Have you ever thought about
the concept of using stem cells to help us treat disease that right now are
hard to treat? Although stem cell
research is a controversial topic it is
something that would be able to save many lives but there are some drawbacks
that many people are on the fence about.
When it come to stem cells there are
many different types of stem cells. But there are two main kinds of cells which
are embryonic stem cells, and there are also adult stem cells. First I am going
to explain what embryonic cells are. Embryonic stem cells are produced from
embryos that are developed from fertilized eggs. This fertilization is done in
a in vitro fertilization clinic. Once they are fertilized they are donated with
informed consent to a research clinic. Due to all of the controversy they come
from a clinic not from a woman (What are
embryonic stem cells?). Also with embryonic stem cells they are more
compatible with what kind of cells they can be used for but with adult stem
cells it’s a whole different story.
Adult stem cells are found in some parts of the human but not all parts.
Adult stem cells can only make cells for the part that they are from so they
can’t help with any part of the body (Stem cells
101).
Although many people are
against stem cells there are many ways that stem cells could really help us. We
would be able to treat many things that are hard to treat right now. The most
important possible use of stem cells is the production of cells and tissues
that may be used for cell based therapies. Present day we use donated organs to
replace failed organs. Also we don’t have enough donated organs to be able to
supply the demand for it. The good thing about stem cells is that they are a
renewable supply that can treat a wide amount of injuries and bad diseases like
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s (Stem Cell
Information). We also can use
stem cells to test out new drugs, which is a really big advantage because then
we don’t have to use people as guinea pigs which can cause serious injuries or
death for them. Human stem cells can be used for testing new drugs. With this,
new medications can be tested in a safer way. These tests are already being
done on cancer cells to test new anti tumor drugs. With the testing of new
drugs using pluripotent stem cells they would be able to test many different
fields of drugs. But the downside is that the conditions of the type would have
to be identical so that the tests are accurate between different types of
drugs. But so far we are not able to purposely do that.
When it comes to stem cells
they are very controversial because of all of the facts that go into it. One of
the biggest reasons that stem cell research is held back is because of
something called the dickey~wicker amendment which first came into effect in
1996. What this law basically states is that they cannot put tax dollars into something
that is done in a private facility that causes embryos to be knowingly subject
to risk or injury. This amendment stops them because of the way that they are
extracted (Stem Cells). Many people are
against this because they say that life begins right when the embryo starts to
develop. Yet others argue that when they are still in that stage they cannot
even stay alive on their own so they technically aren’t alive yet.
As you can tell there is
much controversy on this topic although it has its drawbacks it also has very
many perks that could involve saving lives. But it is your decision on what you
think on this topic some are for it some are against it you decide
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