Stem Cell Research Informative Essay

What if you received the information that scientists and researchers could eradicate diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis? New types of therapies and research may be able to accomplish just that and more. Stem cells are specialized types of cells that can restart themselves and reproduce to form different cell types all over the body, replacing damaged, mutated, or missing cells. Research using these stem cells requires the use of an embryo, making the practice a large moral, scientific, religious, and political issue. Many say that destroying embryos for research is unethical and immoral based on the belief that embryos are considered alive and deserve the same respect and rights that others have. Those that would like to pursue

Stem cells in general have an enormous amount of potential for the future of the medical industry. These days, stem cell-based therapies have been researched and used to battle illnesses that used to have no cure. One big example is the usage of bone marrow Read 2 to treat leukemia and other known blood disorders. Bone marrow has stem cells which are administered to a patient who's blood cell levels were reduced, and these stem cells generate new blood cells, fixing the patient's immune system. Therapies like this will continue to be uncovered and used to our benefit with the support of stem cell

Some people believe that not developing this kind of technology would do a great amount of harm to over 100 million patients in the United States who are affected by diseases that could be treatable by the medical applications of stem cells (CIRM 6). The usage of stem cells does also have disadvantages that should be taken into consideration when making the argument for to continue to support stem cell research. Stem cells have a high risk of causing tumor formation in the patient's body after the stem cells are implanted (Swaminathan 1-4). Stem cell-based therapies also include the risk of an immune system rejection – which is a rejection of the stem cells by the patient's immune system because they are recognized as foreign cells. The body’s defense mechanism is triggered then proceeds to defend against the foreign cells and destroy them (Swaminathan 2). These are just a few issues that will warrant a solution if stem cell research is to be the basis for future medicine. Currently, obtaining stem cells that are embryonic requires the destruction of an embryo. Many people around the world have the belief that an embryo has significant status as a living being, and therefore should not be used for research. They believe that the embryo has the exact same rights, claims, or interests as an adult human. This stage is believed to be happen at the point of fertilization or an even that is similar to it. So the belief is held that