Stem Cell Research: Does the Good Outweigh the Bad?
Stem cell research is fairly new to the medical field and has led to many advancements, but is it ethical?
Have you heard the miraculous stories of people being able to walk again after traumatic accidents? Those stories are direct results of the intense stem cell research that has been done. Over the past few decades there has been an increase in stem cell research within the medical field. Stem cell research can be done to help doctors and scientists learn more about certain diseases and the way that they are able to mature into certain cells found in major body organs.
Stem cells are the materials, or cells, that all other body cells are produced from. They have the ability to become any kind of cell in the body that they want to become. Stem cell research can be done on embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells. Although there have been many advancements made in medicine through the developments from stem cell research, there is controversy surrounding the topic and whether or not it is ethically okay. There are positives and negatives to performing stem cell research, and by looking at the information presented by both sides of the debate, you can form your own opinion regarding stem cell research.
Stem cell research has proven to advance medicine significantly. Stem cells are able to specialize into any kind of cell in the body, which makes them especially valuable to the medical field. Some major medical breakthroughs that have occurred as a result of stem cell research include making new heart muscles and beating heart cells. Scientists have also been able to make heart cells from fat and skin on the patient’s body.
Stem cell research allows scientists to study how different diseases are able to mature in the body. Scientists can also use stem cells to test and see how different new drugs work at combating certain diseases. By viewing how stem cells react to a drug, scientists can see the way that they either mature into diseased cells or mature into normal healthy cells in the body. The main purpose of stem cell research, however, is to produce more healthy cells within the body to replace the diseased cells in the body.
Since stem cells are able to be specified to any type of body cells, scientists have the potential to produce stem cells that are in the body to repair and restore the diseased cells in the body. This advancement makes stem cell research very valuable for people with spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease, as they could potentially be cured or treated with specified stem cells that repair he diseased cells.
However, there are some drawbacks to performing stem cell research. The three types of stem cells: embryonic, adult, and perinatal: all come from different places in the body. The embryonic stem cells can only be obtained from an embryo that is only about 3–5 days old. Since these cells are only able to be obtained from such a young embryonic cell, this can bring up ethical issues in the medical field. The embryo does not have a say in the donation of their stem cells, so the decision is ultimately up to the mother of the unborn child.
Embryonic cells are the most commonly used, since adult stem cells are much harder to specify and are more subject to deformities as they are more exposed to things throughout life. Collecting embryonic cell samples could present potential medical issues to the woman who is donating her embryonic cells. Some of the potential issues that are present include ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, bleeding, infection, and potential anesthesia complications. However, doctors are able to mitigate these possible risk factors by not allowing patients with a higher risk of experiencing these symptoms to undergo the treatment.
When taking both the scientific facts and ethical issues into consideration, I personally think that stem cell research should be performed in order to progress medicine research and allow better quality of life to living humans. The people who agree do go through stem cell research, both those receiving the specified stem cells and those who are donating stem cells, are always aware of all of the risks associated and full precaution is taken to ensure that the patients are as safe as possible. The mother of the unborn child is able to make the informed decision regarding the treatment of the stem cell collection.
Although there are downsides to stem cell research, the developments that have allowed people who were previously paralyzed to be able to walk again, are definitely worth the risk.
