Thursday, March 29, 2012

Arguments Against Stem Cell Research


Arguments Against Stem Cell Research

Stem cell research is a very, very good tool for the potential findings of cures for diseases and disorders. If they are given the proper attention and funding then these cures can be found. The research has already shown huge advancements over the years and will only continue to grow. Society needs to know the right information in order to fully understand the topic and not be biased. A lot of pro-lifers do not like the topic of stem cell research because they feel like it is murder but a lot of the time they don’t know about the alternatives.
There are three different types of stem cell research: adult stem cells, cord blood stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells are normally taken from bone marrow or other rich stem cell areas such as the brain, spinal cord, or bones but it can damage the human’s place of extraction. Cord blood stem cells are stem cells that have been taken from a newborn’s umbilical cord upon birth and then stored in a bank for future use by the newborn. They can also be used by the mother, father, or other family members, but the more distant the relationship, the more likely the body will reject the cells. The third type is embryonic stem cells and this is probably the most controversial. Embryonic stem cells are taken directly from an embryo and the embryo will die because the majority of the embryo’s body is stem cells.
Adult stem cells is not really the most common use of stem cell use since it can harm the human upon extraction and because in order to extract the stem cells, you have to surgically remove the stem cells which is normally not something most people want to do. A good alternative to adult stem cell extraction is the use of cord blood stem cells. Unfortunately, the use of this is limited. First off, you have to have these stem cells stored in a cord blood bank, which can be costly. Secondly, these stem cells can only be used for certain disorders or diseases, certain cancers, blood disorders, immune disorders, or metabolic disorders. One advantage to this is that if your family has a history of a disorder that is can cure, than keeping these cord blood stem cells in a cord blood bank is a great idea because it can potentially cure the disease or disorder. Another type of stem cell research is embryonic stem cells and these are stem cells that are taken from an embryo before it has grown into a fetus. Unfortunately once these stem cells are taken out the embryo will die. This is huge problem for many pro-lifers. They feel like the fact that the embryo dies, that it is murder. It isn’t really murder; it just isn’t giving the embryo a chance to have life. One thing they don’t realize is the embryo is being fertilized and grown in an artificial environment so technically the embryo had no chance at life from the start. 

Cord Blood Stem Cells


Cord Blood Stem Cells

Cord blood stem cells are stem cells found in the blood inside a newborn’s umbilical cord after birth. These stem cells are very unique in that they can be used for the newborn and anyone who is blood related to the newborn, but the farther away the relation to the newborn the worse the stem cells work. These stem cells can be used for a variety of illnesses and disorders. Cord cells are different from the other types in the fact that they can’t be used all over the body. They can only be used mainly when it has to deal with blood since the stem cells come specifically from the blood inside the umbilical cord. With this huge difference, the use of cord blood stem cells isn’t as popular as the other two types of stem cells. There are other disadvantages to cord blood stem cells in the fact that they have to be taken from the umbilical cord upon birth and have to be stored until they are needed.
            Upon birth, these cord blood stem cells are taken from the blood within the newborn’s umbilical cord and then has to be stored in a cord blood bank. Unfortunately, housing these cord blood stem cells isn’t free. So you would have to pay for the cord blood bank until/if you need them, but if you do, these cord blood stem cells can save your life.
            A newborn’s “umbilical cord stem cells have unique advantages over the adult stem cells found in bone marrow. They're younger, more versatile, and have not been exposed to environmental factors.” (http://www.cordblood.com/benefits-cord-blood/umbilical-cord-stem-cells) It is important to think ahead when it comes to saving lives because there are new diseases that surface in medicine and current ones are become more and more common. Also it is also important for stem cell research to get more and more funding and more and more involvement because it is a fairly new type of research that can potentially save a lot of lives over the years if it receives proper involvement and funding.
            Many people don’t know much about stem cell research, which is one reason why I am writing this blog, because it can be very beneficial to society. There is one organization called Cord Blood Registry, which is all about the banking of cord blood stem cells from the umbilical cords of newborns. On it’s website, it says everything about cord blood stem cells and it even gives prices for people interested in putting their newborn’s cord blood stem cells in the cord blood bank upon birth. It may be a little pricy and a lot of money over the years but if the newborn does in fact become diagnosed with a life threatening cancer, blood disorder, immune disorder, or metabolic disorder, having the newborn’s cord blood stem cells in a cord blood bank is a great idea, especially if there is a family history of having a disorder mentioned on the website.


Adult Stem Cells


Adult Stem Cells


Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells that are found among differentiated cells within an organ or issue that can re-grow itself into the major specialized cell types of the organ or tissue. The most common use of stem cells is found among bone marrow, which is how they were found. In the 50s researchers found two types of stem cells within the bone marrow: hematopoietic stem cells and bone marrow stromal stem cells. The stromal cells can generate bone, cartilage, and fat cells that can form blood and connective tissue. A lot of the time the use of adult stem cells can be harmful to the human’s bone from which it came from. Luckily, researchers have found out that stem cells are found in many organs and tissues, such as the brain, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin, teeth, heart, gut, liver, and testis. One problem arises is the fact that there isn’t many stem cells found in each tissue.
            Once stem cells are removed from a tissue, the ability for the other stem cells to divide and reproduce is limited which means that gathering a lot of stem cells is kind of difficult. Scientists have been trying to find out ways to culture the cell and to grow large quantities of them so that they can treat injuries or diseases. Creating more and more stem cells and keeping them in a cultured and controlled environment is also a problem because with stem cell research evolving pretty quickly, more and more people are going to want to have stem cells in case they need them. Which is also why adult stem cells are difficult to deal with, since the stem cells can be used for you and only you. Stem cells taken from an embryo can be used on anyone and anywhere where the stem cells will be accepted by the body.  
            Adult stem cells are a great alternative to embryonic stem cells because the extraction from the subject won’t kill them. The only that will happen, if scientists take too many, is the stem cells won’t have the ability to reproduce any more as stated above. This type of stem cell research is much more accepted by the pro-lifers and the rest of society. One of the down sides to adult stem cells is that the site of the extraction of the stem cells can be damaged due to the fact that the stem cells can’t reproduce anymore so scientists have to be careful when want to learn more because there can be a wide variety of health effect involving adult stem cell extraction. With technology and medicine evolving every day and year, the extraction and use of adult stem cells can be a normal thing of the future with no health risks.
            People normally don’t know that there are three types of stem cells, so when they think of stem cells they think of one of three and think that they are all the same. With this people can either be real bitter towards the topic or real supportive.
            

Embryonic Stem Cells


Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic cells are a type stem cell that is extracted from a human embryo, which is about a week after fertilization. At this point of growth, the embryo only has around 100 cells in its body with most of them being stem cells because the cells haven’t differentiated into different cells yet. Since the embryo is so small and doesn’t have many cells, the embryo will die when the cells are extracted. The scientists know that the embryo will die, since they are doing this procedure in a lab with an artificial womb. This type of stem cell research is one of the most controversial and this is why people don’t agree with it. This type of stem cell goes hand in hand with the topic of abortion. Embryonic stem cell research is killing an embryo before it even has the chance to fully grow and become a fetus similar to abortion. But then you have the discussion of when is the fetus considered living? When does it start forming organs that make it suitable for life?
About five weeks into the pregnancy, the embryo forms a brain, spinal cord, heart, and other organs form but it is no where near being able to survive on its own. The organs just form, they are not even close to being movement and function. Many pro-lifers view this as inhumane or murder because they believe life begins at conception, but most the time when an embryo is at this stage or growth only about one third of them survive naturally in a woman’s womb. A common misconception from people is that embryonic stem cells are taken from embryos that are inside of a woman. Woman donate their eggs to since and scientists fertilize the egg with sperm that has been donated and they create a zygote which then grows into an embryo over the course of a couple of days. Since scientists are creating life outside of a woman’s womb and just taking the stem cells from the embryo and killing it people disapprove. So they feel that funding should be given to other types of stem cell research, but the great thing about embryonic stem cells is that they are “thought by most scientists and researchers to hold potential cures for spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, hundreds of rare immune system and genetic disorders.” (http://usliberals.about.com/od/stemcellresearch/i/StemCell1_2.htm) Other forms of stem cells can’t be used as widely as embryonic stem cells can. For example, cord blood stem cells can only be used for certain types of cancer, blood disorders, immune disorders, and metabolic disorders.
Embryonic stem cell research has been around for a long time, dating back to the early 60s. It wasn’t until 1998 that scientists actually studied a human embryonic stem cell, so stem cell research relating to a human embryo is pretty recent and can be ground breaking over the next couple of years with proper funding and support from the public.

Stem Cell Research Background


Blog #1

Stem Cell Research Background

Stem cell research; What is it? How can it help society? How is bad? These are questions that many people have regarding a very controversial topic. First lets gather some background on the topic of stem cells. According to MedicinNet.com, a stem cell is one of the human body’s master cells, with the ability to grow into any one of the body’s more than 200 cell types. Now the use of stem cells in modern medicine is very, very useful. Since these cells can basically grow into any kind of cell they offer great hope for a multitude of disabilities in medicine. For example, damage neural cells in the brain and/or spinal cord can be replaced by stem cells and will function the way they are supposed to. Basically any cell that has been damaged or dead can be replaced by stem cells. Now you might be thinking to yourself; how is this topic controversial? It is all about how scientists obtain the stem cells.
            When a sperm fertilizes an egg, it creates a single cell called a zygote. This zygote then proceeds to divide and create more cells. About five days later, the cells within the zygote begin to specialize into an outer layer of cells and an inner layer of cells. The inner cells are called the inner cell mass and the roughly thirty inner cells begin to develop into different cells, which will then produce bone, muscle, cartilage, and fat. With this background of what stem cells we can now discuss how scientist obtain stem cells.
            There is three different ways scientists can extract stem cells: adult cells, cord blood cells, and embryonic cells. Adult cells are stem cells that are undifferentiated cells found among differentiated cells that can renew it and generate growth. These stem cells are normally taken from bone marrow but it can commonly be know to damage the human’s bones. Another type of stem cells is a cord blood cell. These cells are taken from the human’s umbilical cord upon birth and stored in a bank for future use by the newborn. This type of stem cell can be used to treat a multitude of cancers, blood disorders, immune disorders, and metabolic disorders. These stem cells can be used for the newborn’s siblings and immediate relations. The farther away the relation, the more likely they won’t work. The last type of stem cells is called embryonic cells. As their name suggests, these stem cells are taken from human embryos. At the point when scientists take these stem cells, the embryo only has around 100 cells and the majority of them are stem cells so upon extraction the embryo will die. This is most controversial type of stem cell extraction and what most people think of when they hear stem cell research. The other types of stem research are perfectly safe during extraction and could only damage the subject receiving the stem cells.
            Stem cells are a great breakthrough in modern day medicine and are a huge way to treat a multitude of diseases and disorders.
            
For more information on stem cells, go to http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics1.asp