STEM CELL RESEARCH

DEFINITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH STEM CELL

• Stem Cells- an undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism that is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation.
• Genes- a distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid molecule which a cell (or virus) may synthesize.

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• Hereditary disorder- A descriptive term for conditions capable of being transmitted from parent to offspring through the genes. The term hereditary is applied to diseases such as hemophilia.
• Birth defects- a physical or biochemical abnormality that is present at birth and that may be inherited or the result of environmental influence.

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• Embryo- an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development.
• Fertilized Egg- an animal organism in the early stages of growth and differentiation that in higher forms merge into fetal stages but in lower forms terminate in commencement of larvaly life

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• Embryonic Stem Cells- Stem cells derived from the undifferentiated inner mass cells of a human embryo.

EXPLANATION OF STEM CELL RESEARCH

• Stem cells are cells that have the potential to develop into any type of cell found in the body. There are multiple types of stem cells but all are capable of giving rise to other cells.
• First type: Pluripotent stem cells (PS cells)
• Second type: Fetal stem cells
• Last type: Adult stem cells/embryonic stem cells

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• stem cells differ from other cells because they are capable of dividing dividing and renewing themselves for long periods of time, they are unspecialized, and they can give rise to specialized cells.
• EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS

EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS

• As of right now scientists are trying to find out why can embryonic stem cells proliferate for a year or more in the laboratory , but adult stem cells for the most part cannot,and the factors in living organisms that regulate stem cell proliferation and self renewal

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• Embryonic stem cells are stem cells derived from embryos. Most embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro.

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• Differences between adult and embryonic stem cells. embryonic stem cells can become any cells while adult cells are limited to the tissue they are retrieved from greatly limiting there application. also the amount of stem cells to found in any given tissue is very rare in comparison to embryos.

APPLICATION OF STEM CELL RESEARCH

• Scientists are trying to learn more about how stem cells become differentiated cells. All we known is turning genes on and off is crucial to the process. Since many birth defects and disorders are gene based this research could give us ways to manipulate genes and potentially cure many birth defects, and hereditary disorders.

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• Testing new Drugs requires the use of human cells. Being able to test drugs on human cells in the only way we can be sure they are safe for human consumption. However human cells are not easy to safely acquire in mass amounts. If scientist could control stem cell then there would be no storage of cell to test with. This would lead to new, better, and possibly life saving drugs to be developed even faster.

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• The major reason Scientists study stem cells is for cell-based therapies. In short this would allow doctors to treat damaged tissues and organs with certain stem cells, repairing them. This could replace the need for organ and tissues transplants. Since organs have a much higher demand then supply, its an impractical way of treating these problems, but the best we have. Stem cell could completely cure things like chronic heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.

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• Even then not enough is know about stem cell to predict everyone of their possible uses. By continuing stem cell research at a reasonable pace the field of medicine will be abel to greatly advance.

MORAL ISSUE OF STEM CELL

• The moral issue with stem cell research goes back to what constitutes as human life. Does an embryo deserve as much of a right to live as a human being that's life could be saved by stem cell research. One side believes that embryos do deserve the right to live and are equally as human. One of the arguments for this belief is that believe that embryos after fertilization have full moral status because they believe that the human embryo is just one stage in human life, just like infancy and adult stages.

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• The point where personhood begins is too arbitrary and for that reason we should just see it as the processes in which a baby is born and not intervene with it. By allowing this research we are judging who gets to live and who gets to die, stepping on the boundaries of morality. The counters to this belief is that the embryo is not alive and thus should not be treated as such but instead be used to save the lives of actual living people.

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• There are many people today suffering with diseases and disabilities that have the potential to be alleviated if there was only stem cell research. Embryos that have not yet been implanted into the uterus do not have physiological, emotional or physical properties that are associated with being a person while then actual people are in need and its our moral duty to prevent or alleviate suffering.

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• Now there are opinions within the middle such as a embryo may be used but not 14 days after fertilization. After the 14 days it can no longer decide to split into two, more or fail to develop. Before 14 days the embryo has no central nerves systems and thus no sense, and if we can take organs from patients declared brain dead, then hundreds of embryo with no nerves system can as well. Another opinion being that an embryo has increasing life status as it grow.

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• Basically it gains more respect the more closer that it becomes to being human. more then half of all fertilized eggs are lost due to natural causes thus if its natural for such a high loss, then it should not be a problem for some embryos to be used in stem cell research. Different religions also have an opinion on stem cell research.

CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON STEM CELL

• Catholics believe that stem cell research is immoral for the same reasons as abortions while then Judaism and islam believe that stem cell research should be permitted because they emphasize the importance of helping others and argue that embryo does not have full human right status before 40 days. The Catholic Church is against embryonic stem-cell research because it involves the destruction of human embryos. Pope John Paul II said embryonic stem-cell research is related to abortion, euthanasia and other attacks on innocent life.

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• Support for Non-Embryonic Stem-Cell Research There is no controversy about research involving all of these types of stem cells. In fact, the Catholic Church has publicly supported adult and umbilical-cord stem-cell research, and Church leaders were among the first to applaud the discovery of amniotic stem cells and to call for further research.

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• Opposition to Embryonic Stem-Cell Research The Church has consistently opposed research on embryonic stem cells, however. For several years now, many scientists have called for greater research on embryonic stem cells, because they believe that embryonic stem cells exhibit greater pluripotency (the ability to divide into different types of cells) than, say, adult stem cells. The public debate around stem-cell research has focused entirely on embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR).

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• The failure to distinguish between ESCR and other forms of stem-cell research has muddied the debate

IMPACT ON SOCIETY

• The application of stem cells to treat chronic diseases, although still in its infancy, shows enormous potential for scientific breakthroughs. Over 73 medical conditions are being treated using stem cells. Stem cells can save lives for example in the case of a damaged heart stem cells can help repair a very life threatening damage. ES cells are isolated from 5-day old blastocysts created by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Stem cells helps tremendously in curing and repairing damages to human tissue.

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• However there are two sides to society when it comes to the acceptance of Stem cells on one hand stem cell research and application is accepted bug on the other many people ask questions such as " is it allowable to create embryos solely for research purposes"? Thus this topic becomes debated by many people on the basis of ethics.

GROUP OPINION