Stem Cell Research Argumentative Essay

Scientists have recently discovered that a rare blinding disease, caused by a mutated ATF6 gene, could quite possibly be cured by stem cell therapy. Scientists have been researching the stem cell for many years, but they are now considering the application of stem cell therapy in patients suffering from many incurable diseases. Stem cell research is the next step in curing many diseases, and when studying the stem cell, it is important to know what they are, the history, political influences, international debates, and ethical issues concerning the stem cell. The future of medicine could be the stem cell, and the lives of thousands could be saved with continued stem cell research. When studying stem cells, it is important to know what stem

“Until recently, scientists only worked with two kinds of stem cells from… humans: embryonic stem cells and non-embryonic “somatic” or “adult” stem cells” (“Stem Cell Basics”). Embryonic stem cells are derived from an embryo meanwhile somatic cells are matured stem cell found throughout the body. In 2006, a breakthrough was made when researchers “[identified] conditions that would allow some specialized adult cells to be “reprogrammed” genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. This new type of stem cell [is] called induced pluripotent stem cells” (“Stem Cell Basics”). Stem cells are important for humans and other organisms because when an embryo is a blastocyst, or three to five days old, stem cells give rise to the many different specialized organs and cells of the entire body. Adult stem cells are found in some areas such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, and generate replacements for lost cells from disease, injury, or normal wear. Because stem cells have unique regenerative abilities, they have the potential to treat diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. “Much work remains to be done in the laboratory and the

In 1981, Martin Evans at the University of Cambridge, was the “first to identify embryonic stem cells - in mice” (“Stem Cell Basics”). Evans has since been awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine, that his discovery was a “groundbreaking discovery… which can be adapted for a wide variety of medicinal purposes” (“Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Prize…”). Then nearly two decades later, in 1998, James Thompson of the University of Wisconsin isolated human embryonic stem cells and grew them in a lab for the first time. This was the beginning of another two decades of stem cell research that still continues today. The therapeutic value of their discovery still had yet to be proved and many scientists questioned whether tissues grown in this way would be safe. The stem cell debate would only grow worse during George W. Bush’s presidency in what would become known as the Bush controversy. In 2001, Bush “[limited] federal funding of research on human embryonic stem cells because a human embryo was destroyed in the progress” (Cohen). Controversy arose as Bush allowed research on stem cells lines to continue as long as they were created before the ban was set in place. This would set the precedent for stem cell controversy as the first time stem cell research was officially sanctioned by a President of the United States. In 2006, isolating stem cells that share the same