Michael Sisk

11/26/14
Honors Biology D
Stem Cell Research Paper
Stem Cells: Life Saving or Violating?

Stem cells have to power to create new tissues, new nerves that can help humans live

both longer and healthier. In a sense, they are the beginning of all cells and are necessary for

embryonic development. Stem cells are cells are cells that can differentiate and create either the

type of cell where they originated or any type of cell. This differentiation depends on what type

of stem cell is being used. There are three types of stem cells in our body that are produced at

different times in a human’s growth and development. First, embryonic stem cells, or ES cells,

are formed in the blastocyst when the sperm and egg fertilize. Another type of stem cell is the

adult stem cell that is created in the tissues of various organs in an adult’s body. Lastly, iPS or

induced pluripotent stem cells are stem cells extracted from a specific tissue in an adult’s body

and then reverted back to a stem cell that can differentiate into many different tissues. Although

there is a current debate regarding the use of stem cells in our country, I believe there is a large

amount of beneficial medical purposes associated with stem cells that must be taken advantage

of.

The cure and treatment of numerous diseases that debilitate and kill humans everyday can

be solved with the use of stem cells. For example, conditions such as Alzheimer’s, spinal cord

injuries and even cancer can potentially be combated through the implementation of stem cells

(Stem Cell Facts, n.d.). The use of stem cells could quite possibly save millions of civilians

fighting for their lives and running out of options. A great illustration of how stem cells have

already began to positively impact our nation’s medical field is when cancers of the blood are
treated. When cancer patients are undergoing both chemo and radiation therapies, many

surrounding cells in the area being treated other than the cancer cells such as stem cells in the

bone marrow are destroyed (Types of Stem Cell Transplants for Treating Cancer, n.d.). In order

to keep stem cells in your bone marrow that help create multiple cells in your bloodstream alive,

your bone marrow stem cells are extracted from your body, then frozen, and eventually put back

in the body to create healthy blood (Types of Stem Cell Transplants for Treating Cancer, n.d.).

This, therefore, allows the affected patient a greater chance at recovery from this type of cancer

including leukemia. If the use of stem cells was not increased in our world, the recovery of other

cancers may never be realized. Of course, many of these treatments are still experimental

(Barrandon, 2011), but the possibility of prolonged life for all humans can not just be left

uninvestigated. To continue, even serious ailments such as blindness can be potentially cured

through the use of stem cells. For example, if someone’s cornea was damaged impairing their

vision, stem cells from their eye could be harvested to grow a new cornea for that patient

(Barrandon, 2011). Although, these practices may seem as if they are science-fiction, with the

use of stem cells by our nation’s side, those fantasies may become realizations. Furthermore,

these stem cells are being retrieved from the patient themselves or a matched donor who gives

permission to use his/her stem cells (Types of Stem Cell Transplants for Treating Cancer, n.d.).

Without funding these projects and the development of stem cell research and therapies in our

country, our nation may very well be ending a scientific revolution before it has even begun.

Throughout the exploration of stem cell therapy and extraction, many questions regarding

ethics and morals were brought forth. Now, after new discoveries and technology, many of those

questions should be silenced. A major concern about the use of embryonic stem cells was that
scientists may be killing humans as they choose for this research. Luckily, new procedures have

been found to potentially take out a single cell from the blastocyst called a blastomere and then

create a stem cell line of multiple stem cells (Murnaghan, 2014). As a result, the desired

pluripotent ES cells are retrieved and the embryo is still able to create life leaving both parties

happy. To expand on the topic of pluripotent cells, there are two types of stem cells: pluripotent

and multipotent. Embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are considered to be

pluripotent meaning those versions of stem cells are able to become any tissue in the body. This

ability is the main reason why these cells are so valuable and are sought by scientists. On the

other hand, adult stem cells are only multipotent. Multipotent cells can differentiate, but only

into very few types of cells. Although these cells are still valuable and have many uses, they only

have a fraction of the potential ES and iPS cells possess. Induced pluripotent stem cells also help

to silence many critics of stem cell usage in America as they are not extracted from embryos, but

from skin and blood cells (Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, n.d.). Before iPS cells were used,

embryonic stem cells were the only pluripotent cells available for research. Now, with iPS

technology at researchers’ sides, the demand for ES cells may diminish greatly or, eventually,

disappear. Although, this visualization may be decades away, if no support is given to projects

regarding stem cells, our country will potentially never reach this point. Many years will pass

before the use of ES cells are not needed to treat the patients of the world, but with the new

discoveries and practices created by the scientists of the world, many of the ethical concerns

regarding stem cells may become irrelevant in the near future.

There are multiple concerns of the general population regarding the topic of stem cells

that may not be answered yet, but I do believe that there is no argument that should persuade our
country to decrease the amount of support and funding for these projects. For example, due to

enormous amount of power these stem cells hold, ideas such as cloning humans have been

discussed. While with enough stem cells this may be possible, there are many simple steps to

prevent any cloning in our country. A simple solution is to first to create legislation forbidding

cloning as other countries involved in stem cell research already have (The Stem Cell Debate: Is

it Over, n.d.). Also, creating regulations on all locations were stem cell technology and research

is occurring would benefit both parties. Also, concerns regarding the amount of money the

government would potentially have to give to different agencies to keep the research running

may arise. With a struggling economy and in the midst of a recession, our spending should be

quite conservative. To paint the picture of how little funding embryonic stem cell research is

receiving, these statistics should be quite astounding. In the United States, 146.1 million dollars

was given to the National Institute of Health (Frequently Asked Questions, 2014), a major

contributor of stem cell research, in 2013 out of the 3.9 trillion dollars our country has to spend

(Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go, n.d.). That means 0.0004% of our nation’s

budget is going to one of the largest stem cell practices in the United States. For such a

life-saving topic, I feel our country can surely hand over these funds without any consequences.

Even though there are still debates occurring about how much our country should proceed with

this research, every argument discussed leads back to expanding our research on stem cells.

To conclude, the ongoing argument about the issues and potential of stem cell research

may go on for more years with each side presenting very persuading points. However, based on

factual information, I believe that stem cell research must be increased to its full potential. The

ethics of their extraction has only increased and will do so in the future and it would be a shame
and a waste if stem cells were not experimented with to create a healthier planet. In our world,

there are very few magic cures, but stem cells may be able to cure almost anything.

Works Cited

Barrandon, Y. (2011, October 6). What diseases and conditions can be treated with stem cells?
Retrieved December 12, 2014, from
http://www.eurostemcell.org/faq/what-diseases-and-conditions-can-be-treated-stem-cells

Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/

Frequently Asked Questions. (2014, April 1). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from
http://stemcells.nih.gov/research/funding/pages/Funding.aspx

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS). (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from
https://www.stemcell.ucla.edu/induced-pluripotent-stem-cells

Murnaghan, I. (2014, September 12). Creating Embryonic Stem Cells Without Embryo
Destruction. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from
http://www.explorestemcells.co.uk/creating-embryonic-stem-cells-embryo-destruction.html

Stem Cell Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2014, from

http://www.americansforcures.org/article.php?uid=1000

The Stem Cell Debate: Is It Over? (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/scissues/

Types of stem cell transplants for treating cancer. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/treatmenttypes/bonemarrowandperiph
eralbloodstemcelltransplant/stem-cell-transplant-types-of-transplant