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The Pros And Cons Of Embryotic Stem Cell Research

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Embryotic stem cell research is a major controversy in the United States today. This paper will provide the definition of what embryotic stem cell research is, how to get embryotic stem cells, and the process in which it undergoes, along with reasons behind the procedure. This paper will also include some positives of embryotic stem cell research such as treatment. The negatives will also be included. These will be what religions believe about embryotic stem cell research and the death of an embryo. Furthermore, embryotic stem cells are undifferentiated stem cells in inner mass cells of a human embryo (Korenman, 2006). A very early embryo is called a blastocyst. A human embryo is made up of two layers of cells. The outer most layer of the blastocyst is called trophectoderm. It forms the placenta and protects the inner mass cells. The innermost layer of the blastocyst is the inner mass cells, which are undifferentiated. Later, the inner mass cells will later turn into differentiated cells that will form different cells on different parts of the baby. Therefore, embryotic stem cells are retrieved in a few ways. First, a female donor donates her eggs, and a male donor donates his sperm. Scientists fertilize the egg using in vitro. After a few days when it reaches about 300 cells, they are frozen under both parents consent for stem cell research. The …show more content…

The argument for this view believes that there are steps of growing that could increase moral status. In Embryotic Stem Cell Research: An Ethical Dilemma, it ranks the stages as: “1. Implantation of the embryo into the uterus wall around six days after fertilization. 2. Appearance of the primitive streak – the beginnings of the nervous system – at around 14 days. 3. The phase when the baby could survive if born prematurely. 4. Birth” (Hug, 2011). The opposing argument states a person is important no matter

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A blastocyst, which is what a five-day-old embryo is considered, is just a clump of cells that has the potential of becoming a human being but just because it has the potential does not mean that it makes it a human being or that it’s alive. If harvesting the ES cell from within a blastocyst can improve the quality of life for living human beings, and then I do not have a problem with that. The current argument is that destroying human embryos is akin to killing

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Therefore, it is a problem that will arise since there will be conflicts between people as a result of differing opinions. Certain religions consider it to be immoral. From the point of view of a Christian they have concluded that the status of an embryo is similar to that of a human because it will become one and thus they should be treated with respect thinking of the human it will become. The main concern for religious groups as such from all religions is that through this they are “playing god”. They believe that messing with Gods will is erroneous and this will cause problems to arise between different groups who oppose the opinion therefore stem cell transplants are better off avoided and only tested in the laboratories but not performed on humans.

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“Some believe that there is no exact point in time where the beginning of personhood can be pinpointed in the lifetime of the embryo, because of this they believe that from the moment of fertilization the embryo should be regarded as a person” (8 Pros and Cons of ES Cell Research). With the belief that these fertilized embryos are considered human, any attempt to destroy it should be considered murder. Therefore, ES cells should not be used for research, because of the means as to which they are achieved. Even though a fertilized embryo has to be

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In the future stem cell research can allow the scientists to test a number of potential medicines and drugs without carrying out any test on animals and humans because we would already know the affects it has on people. The stem cell therapy also allows researchers to study the developmental stages of the body that cannot be known directly through the human embryo and it can be used in the treatment of a number of birth defects, infertility problems and miscarriages. A higher understanding of stem cell therapy will allow us to know how to treat the abnormal development in the human body. The cons of stem cell therapy research mostly refer to issues with embryonic stem cell research; people who oppose stem cell research oppose the use of embryonic stem cells because there are still many questions of whether or not a human life is being lost when the embryonic stem cells are being extracted.

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There are many alternatives to embryonic stem cell research, alternatives with great potential in regards to saving lives rather than destroying it. Embryonic research is viewed as immoral because it disrespects and disregards the nature and dignity of the human life. Embryonic stem cell research is the obtaining of embryonic stem cells from the embryo in attempt to treat multiple diseases such as Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal cord injury, Lou’s Gehrig's Disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis etc. In other words, embryonic stem cell research is the experimentation on embryo stem cell lines for medical purposes that destroy an embryo in the process of removing and harvesting the cells from the inner mass

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The Embryonic stem cell controversy is causing research to more difficult; embryonic stem cells not only have the moral dilemma but also have more complications that adult stem cells have. Embryonic stem cell research, regardless of the controversy, has much potential and must continue in order to truly understand the benefits. However, since adult stems cells have already been proven to work, what is the point of going through the ethical dilemmas that come with embryonic stem cells? Another issue with embryonic stem cell research would be the “competition for federal medical research funds, it would be important to ascertain whether the organizations that were devoted to curing specific diseases had an interest in stem cell research and to

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If we consider an embryo human life why is it that any other cell should not be considered “human life”. Furthermore, If one were considering embryonic stem cell research as “taking of innocent human life” should that mean that many researchers should have been accused of manslaughter and completely shut down. The only thing that President Bush had done was block all federal funding towards the research (“Examining the Ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research”). We have learned that embryonic stem cells can potentially cure many diseases, regenerate tissues, and ultimately save lives. This raises the ethical questions of whether or not it is immoral to prevent research that can save so many future lives.

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Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Medical Application and Ethical Controversy Unless the risk of Embryonic Stem Cell research is shown to outweigh the benefits, we should not restrict the use, instead we should educate the public about the benefits and real world applications. Thanks to stem cells, the human body can get a whole new skin approximately every four weeks, a new gut lining every few days and a staggering two million new red blood cells every second. Stem Cells are special cells who can rapidly divide for an indefinite period and have the potential to become any specialized cell type. Dr. Panno a professor at Simon Fraser University defined stem cells best when he said, “when placed in a culture, stem cells grow and divide”(Panno

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However, the process of nuclear transfer when turning the adult stem cells into induced pluripotent stem cells makes these cells most similar to embryonic stem cells (Mckinney-Freeman et al.,

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Embryonic stem cells have caught the attention of scientists and nonscientists. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos at a developmental stage. These are generalized cells found in organisms and are able to re-establish themselves and develop into other cells by using growth and repair. They also can be used to become tissue or organ type of traits. .They derive from the inner mass cells of a human embryo.

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Latham illustrates the reason embryonic stem cell research became such a controversial subject: ESC research, “Generally involves the destruction of an early-stage human embryo” (1). People all over the world have different beliefs as to when life begins. There is a huge division in opinion; some believe life begins at conception while other believe life begins at birth. It does not matter what a person’s stance if on the subject because everyone must learn to look at the bigger picture; research saves lives. Scientist Melissa Abramovitz, the author of multiple scientific articles such as "The Controversy over Embryonic Stem Cells", informs everyone what happens to embryos in fertility clinics: “Once a successful pregnancy occurs, the parents may elect to leave any unused fertilized eggs in frozen storage, to dispose of them as medical waste, or to donate them for scientific research” (1).

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Parental stocks can be further split and subcultured. Homogenous EC, EE and stem cell lines will be identified by cell-specific markers (Pdm1, Ds or Spectrin for ECs; Prospero or Tachykinin for EEs; and Delta or notch for stem cells) using FACS analysis and further confirmed by RT-PCR analysis

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One of the most popular opposing positions on embryonic stem cell research stems from the belief that the process of retrieving the cells is virtually the same as abortion. This belief originates from lack of information and true fact about embryonic stem cell research. The embryos that the stem cells are taken from are at the oldest, three to four days old. When the embryo is less than fourteen days old, it has yet to develop neural tissue (Shapiro). Many argue that taking the stem cells at this point is the equivalent to retrieving an organ from a person who has been declared as brain dead.

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There have been several ethic concerns and problems that follow this topic. Professional consent is needed to be written down and signed by all participants who are involved in any stem cell transplant. As mentioned, embryonic stem cells are a major part in treating many stem cell related procedurs, and because of that, a lot of research has made the extracting of embryonic stem cells mandatory. However, in order to extract embryonic stem cells, the fertilized egg cell, which at this stage of growth is called blastocyst, has to be destroyed after 5-7 days of life. This is by many considered to be murder of a young living organism, which will later become a fetus.

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Wanted embryos were valuable for their parents. Respect for the moral value regarding the feelings of the parents. Individual’s cells were duplicated it was another issue concern on cloning embryonic stem cell. This was a therapeutic cloning and begins using same procedure as reproductive cloning. If the cell in the therapy usage embryonic there were impediment of possible negation, having cell from different

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