The purpose of this report is to educate the general public on what stem cells are, how they are being used and what they are being used for. I will endeavour to do this by informing you on the current research that has been done and some of the possible uses for stem cell research in the future both negative and positive.
Stem cells are the raw material that makes up the human body. There are multiply kinds of stem cells with differing uses and abilities. Adult stem cells are currently the least useful, they are extracted from the human body and can only turn into the type of cell from were they are taken. E.g. an adult stem cell taken from the liver will turn into a liver cell. Cord blood stem cells are the stem cells taken from an umbilical cord after a baby is born. These cells can turn into any cell that makes up blood e.g. red and white cells. Science has had the most success turning cord blood stem cells into plenipotent cells, a kind of modified cell that can turn into any cell with in the human body. There is also embryonic stem cells the most useful in the stem cell family an embryonic stem cell can turn into any cell within the human body easily and with out any modification.
The positives of stem cell research are many, the work done so far show that stem cells are likely to cure and treat diseases such as Parkinson's, Dementia, many kinds of cancers and even repair damaged spinal cords. Thus extending human life as well as improving the quality of living for those inflicted with such aliments. At this point a lot of the stem cell research has been done on rats and other animals this is not as effective as researching on humans however it has shown us the great results and what could follow in years to come. Using stem cells scientists have been able to successfully regrow the spinal cord in rat test subjects. There have also been great successes with curing some cancers in the rat test subjects. There has also been break thoughts in things such as regrowing parts of essential organs like livers after a piece of the liver has been removed after surgery. Another positive is that the embryonic stem cells (the most controversial) can be taken at very early stages of an embryo therefore lowering the risk that the embryo may be a life.
The downside or negatives of stem cell research is that stem cells can be hard to obtain and the research is expensive. The hardest to obtain would be adult stem cells which are extremely hard to extract without damaging the donor. However the stem cell that is the hardest to obtain because of legal and ethical issues is the embryonic stem cell. Because to obtain embryonic stem cells the embryo or foetus must be destroyed. This is opposed by many religions such as the Roman Catholics, and even more people that believe that an embryo is a human life or should be treated as such. Therefore using embryonic stem cells is sometimes seen as murder. There are also those against embryonic stem cell research because they believe that any left over embryos should be given to couples that can not get pregnant and still wish to have children and not destroyed from research purposes. This has stunted the stem cell research a substantial amount as embryonic stem cells are the most potent and have been the most promising in research done so far. Another negative of using stem cells is that research has shown that the chances of cancer increases in patients after being treated with stem cells thus curing one disease but increasing the chances of being susceptible to another. However as studies have only been conducted on animal subjects it is unknown wether the same out come would present itself in humans. There is also the fact of sacrifice siblings being made. This is when a couple make an embryo just so that is can be destroyed to save one of the couples children. This is seen as wrong in the eyes as many and curses much controversy. Another negative of embryonic stem cell research is the fact the embryos may be brought and traded in the future which would be legally and ethically wrong. It would be similar to the back market of human organs. The final negative of stem cell research is the fears that it may turn into human cloning (body part) and human modification. This would be seen as wrong and disturbing in many people's eyes.
In conclusion stem cell research looks like it could be the future of medicine and needs to be taken very seriously. Even thought stem cell treatments are not currently available I believe that now is the time to debate and work out all the legal and ethical issues so that when the time comes that stem cells are ready to be used, there are clear guide lines and rules to abided by so that this technology won't be abused or misused. I personally believe that embryonic stem cell shouldn't be used for reasons such as the possibility of stem cells being used for cloning and the possibly of using them is destroying life. I think that the work done with adult and even more so cord blood stem cells is heading in the right direction and that it should be given more funding and be taken more seriously.
By Michael Anderson
