It is estimated that 128 million people suffer from diseases that could potentially be cured with stem cell research. The cost of these diseases on our health care budget is over 100 billion dollars annually. One such disease is type I diabetes, a condition that causes the pancreas has stopped producing insulin to regulate the body's blood sugar. Stem cell grafts have the potential to stimulate the pancreas to renew its ability to produce insulin, thus curing a disease now only controlled by insulin injections. As in ALS, Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's are caused by nerve cell degeneration. Research shows the potential of replacing damages nerve cells with healthy ones and restoring function to people affected by nervous system degeneration.(AAAS).
There is promise in the field of auto-immune disease research also as stem cells could be introduced into patients and thus rebuild a healthy immune system. Immune deficiencies represent a variety of maladies such as AIDS, lupus and Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome. Researchers believe it will be possible to cure diseases of the bone and cartilage by using stem cells to grow new healthy cartilage. Additionally there are some uses in cancer treatment, especially in the bone marrow transplants used to renew the diseased bone marrow of leukemia victims. (AAAS).
The stem cells used in this research can be obtained from several sources. One of these sources is the embryonic stem cell, which is a cell harvested from a non-implanted, frozen, fertilized egg. Obtaining stem cells from such an undifferentiated source may be more advantageous than obtaining one from an older fetus, from cord blood, from a juvenile donor, or from bone marrow. This is because most researchers believe that embryonic stem cells have the ability to change into whatever type of cell is needed for the treatment, as opposed to an older cell which has already differentiated into a particular type of cell.
Stem-cell research does not have to involve blatant disregard for human life. ... Finally, scientific research dealing with "new technology" is often seen as unnatural but we are already creating embryos and we have access to stem cells without blatant disregard for human life. ... Embryo Research. ... What's wrong with Cloning? ... ...
Cloning is very real, but most research has no intention of ever creating a cloned person. ... Researchers have found very few adult stem cells. ... For example human stem cells extracted from the brains of aborted human fetuses greatly enhanced the cognitive ability of 24 month old rats (equivalent of an 80+ year old human) (Laino). ... Instead of creating life, through cloning, researchers hope to improve the quality of life through nuclear transplantation (therapeutic cloning). ... September 2002. 28 October 2002 . ...
The state of this contemporary medical research is languishing because the issue is swollen with hesitation regarding public funding, opposition from right-to-life advocates, matters of possible abuse that could lead to notorious cloning technology, and laws and law-creating that have not necessarily been interpreted to include stipulations regarding stem cell research or given permission to pursue this profound research under strict governmental guidelines. ... (b) For purposes of this section, the term "human embryo or embryos" includes any organism, not protected as a human subject under ...
Unfortunately, people oppose stem cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos. ... By destroying embryos, tiny members of the human family, embryonic stem cell research violates the medical ethic of "Do No Harm". ... Another major area of human embryonic stem cell technology is the study of human development. ... On the other hand, obtaining blastocyst-derived stem cells requires the 'destruction of human embryos' ("Stem Cell Research Alert" 1). ... Despite their position on stem cell research, most people would agree that an embryo is alive and that it is some form ...
