Lewis 1

Stem Cell Research: A step forward or in the wrong direction?

Step I: What I Know

Stem cell research is considered one of the most promising breakthroughs in

modern science. There are many different arguments for and against stem cell research

The main argument is that stem cells come from newly fertilized human eggs, and some

people believe this to be murder while others believe it should be done. Stem cells can

also be produced from clones of the human eggs, which many support, but actually

cloning human beings has people scared.

What sparked my interest in this issue was that people don’t know much about it.

It has been mentioned on the news and in papers but never on the cover or widely told

about. Many people are still uneducated on the issue of stem cell, and I believe they

should be aware of it because it may affect us all in the future. I personally believe that

using stem cell research to clone organs or to help diseases is good but to clone human

beings is wrong. This issue is important to me because I believe that stem cell research

will result in a negative outcome, and that outcome being human cloning, social

discrimination and eventually war. Our future can be deeply affected by stem cell

research. Stem cell research can essentially save someone’s life. If someone needs a vital

organ, it can be possible by stem cells to clone organs and give them to people in need of

them. Our economy can be affected by it also because of business. When stem cell gets

popular, ethical and social matters will not be considered anymore. All that will matter is

profit and how business is doing.

I get my information when I hear about it on the news or from the paper. I

understand that stem cell research keeps growing and getting more advanced. There are
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breakthroughs in stem cell every year, and it will soon come to its peak. This peak will

affect the lives of everyone in the world, and there is no way to stop it. It is a favorite

discussion of mine because I want to hear people’s opinions on the outcomes of stem cell

research. I want to hear other opinions because I do not know all the about the subject so

there can be some aspects I haven’t considered. Some things I don’t understand about the

subject would be the scientific part. I understand that stem cells come from newly

fertilized eggs but I do not know whether that is considered a human being yet. Some

people believe it is an opinion but I cant answer the question without doubts so therefore

I do not know the real answer. It is important that I choose my opinion in the question

because it will affect my side of the whole argument. If I had to answer the question, I

would probably say that it is a human being right when the egg is fertilized. I have no

experience for my opinion; I just believe that since that is where all humanity started,

then it is a human being when the egg is freshly fertilized. When I think about this issue, I

think about all humanity. I believe it is a topic that can essentially affect everyone in the

world.

Other people may think that it is not a human being until it has reached a certain

period during pregnancy. I believe my peers would think that stem cell research should be

allowed because most young people are liberal and open-minded on various matters. If I

asked my parents or adults I believe they would tell me that it is immoral and unethical.

They would say this because adults tend to be more conservative and close-minded about

matters they believe is right and wrong. The differences in the way people answer this

question can be due to age, gender, or opinion. Older people can be more conservative so

they are usually against the issue of stem cell. Women tend to be more for the issue
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because of the fact that women are usually pro-choice and they believe they have more

experience in the issue being the only gender that can give birth. The last factor is opinion

and that is proven because of the fact that there are adult liberals and women who are

against abortion.

In my future research for this paper, I hope to find more information that will

totally convince me to stay with my opinion. I am currently between opinions and I hope

to receive information that will change that. I know I am going to have a problem

choosing my opinion on the various subjects of stem cell because there are different

issues I need to consider. I need to consider all the issues and if I don’t consider everyone

then my opinion as well as my paper will end up being biased.

Step II: The Search

I began my research wanting to find out about how stem cell originated and how

it has come to be such a controversial topic. I found out a lot about what stem cell

research is as well as the arguments for and against it. Many people believe that stem cell

research will lead to the treatment of diseases and repairing of damaged organs. Others

believe it is non-ethical and carries massive risks. Some risks are the performing or

consideration of human cloning and most people believe we aren’t ready for that. Stem

cell research has come a long way and its progress as well as principles has become a

major debate among the nation.

When I was first brought upon the question of stem cell research, I did not know

many reasons why it was such a controversial matter. I found out that there are many

arguments for the idea of stem cell research so I decided to hear those arguments first.

Stem cell research is considered to some people as being a major breakthrough in science
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and medicine. It has high aspirations that someday stem cell research will help in the

treatment of many diseases and disorders. Stem cells are promising to researchers

because they have the ability to turn into any kind of cell in the body (Ostrom 2). Stem

cells can help scientists come up with treatments and cures because they can turn into any

cell in the body. This is useful because if tissue or an organ is needed stem cells can turn

into the cells needed to make such organs or tissue. There are many different diseases,

raging from heart disease to spinal cord injury and autoimmune disorders that could

benefit from a better understanding of and the use of stem cells as therapeutic agents

(Lerner 2). Future research in stem cells can lead to new cures or treatments for many

diseases and disorders. Stem Cell therapy is a revolutionary new way to treat disease and

injury, by transplant of new cells able to repair damaged tissues or organs (Lerner 2). This

procedure will give treatment to many diseases and injures and will help people who have

damaged tissue or organs. In order to get these stem cells we need to extract them from

human bodies. This procedure may seem serious but there is no harm done to the person

involved. Many people are unaware that adult Stem cells are located throughout the

human body and are providing treatments, even cures, without harming the donor person

(Stem Cell Risks 1). There are people who believe that the extracting of stem cells will

cause damage to the donor and will have no outcome. This is not true because the donor

has no harm done to him when extracting stem cells and the outcomes of those stem cells

can be great.

People think that the advancing of stem cell research will lead to human cloning.

Cloning or asexual reproduction is the production of individuals who are genetically

identical to an already existing individual (Leone 10). An already born human is cloned
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and another person is produced who has the same genes and features. This is not all true

but there are scientists that are for the idea. There are some people who are for stem cell

research as well as human cloning if it is in our future. The reasons for why these people

approve this are the possibility of reversing age and infertile couples having more

children. Some leading proponents of human cloning suggest that the technology may

someday be possible to reverse the aging process, and for many more infertile couples to

have children than ever before (Lerner 3). There are men and women in this world that

would like to live longer and have more children at an older age. Some people would

even pay for it and would even sponsor human cloning if it ever becomes a possibility.

Stem cell research has gained a lot of popularity and would gain even more if people

knew about all the possibilities pertaining to it.

There are many opposing arguments to stem cell research that people seem to

ignore. I didn’t know many arguments opposing this issue to start with but I have learned

many since then. I have taken in these arguments and heard many that seem valid and

understandable. To the people who oppose stem cell research and advancement, stem cell

research is an immoral and ignorant act. The research of stem cells and acts of cloning

carry many risks. These risks can damage the subject or object as well as the people

around them. Almost from the beginning of research on human reproduction, scientists

have warned that cloning is not the exact reproduction of a human being. Everyone who

has ever known identical twins knows how different they can be, even though they share

the same genes (Goodnough 15). Although cloning will give you a product that will look

like same as the original, that doesn’t mean their actions or mind will react the same.

Nearly all scientists now agree that attempts to clone human beings carry massive risks of
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producing unhealthy, abnormal, and malformed children (Leone 12). There is such a high

probability of failure and low possibility of success that cloning just seems pointless. The

act of cloning carries too much risk to be undergone so there is no use in going through

with it. Cloning is a process with a low rate of success; hundreds of experiments are

needed to clone a single animal (Lerner 1). Scientists agree that cloning is an intricate and

long procedure that will not guarantee success. Cloning seems to ensure failure and that

is a reason why certain people oppose the issue.

When stem cells are extracted, they are usually extracted from the human embryo.

Although it is possible for stem cells to be taken from adults, scientists usually take them

from freshly produced embryos. Adult stem cells are also difficult to identify and isolate,

and even when successfully collected, the cells often fail to survive outside of the body

Lerner 1). People oppose this action because they believe this is destruction and murder.

There are many opinions on when an embryo is considered human. Some think that it is

considered human in the early stages of labor while others think it occurs in the later

stages. This matter can heavily influence a person’s opinion whether they consider it a

moral or religious issue.

Religion affects the opinion of many people on stem cell research. If is wrong in

their religion to kill then they believe that the destruction of an embryo is murder. The

Catholic Church is opposed to embryonic stem cell research because it necessitates the

destruction of the human embryo in order to extract its stem cells and leads to human

cloning (Religious Views 2). The destruction of the human embryo and human cloning is

rejected in the Catholic Church. They believe human cloning is playing god and the

destruction of the human embryo is murder. Although the Catholic Church is against
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human cloning as well as embryonic stem cell research they do however are for adult

stem cell research. Catholics have the right and duty to assist all who are suffering, and

medical science, through adult stem cell research and its proven track record of success,

has opened a door of hope (Religious Views 1). Adult stem cell research is harmless to

the donor so the Catholic Church has no problem with it. They are now trusting in the

success of adult stem cell research and may relay on it in the future. In evaluating this

issue, it is significant to point out that no member of the United States Supreme Court has

ever taken the position that fetuses, let alone embryos, are constitutionally protected

persons (Torr 155). This is important to remember because although many people think it

is murder the United States never said it was. The United States never declared embryos

to be protected by the constitution so stem cell research is not considered murder in the

United States.

Since stem cell research is getting more and more advanced, the people who have

these religious views are getting more and more against it. Medical science, along with

people from different faith and political backgrounds, has recognized that human cloning

and the destruction of living embryos for research purposes may not be the most

promising way to move forward with stem cell research (Religious Views 1). They

believe that stem cell research will one day progress to human cloning and that is an issue

they are strongly against. People who are opposed to stem cell research because of human

cloning believe that a child should come from one man and one woman. They see cloning

as playing god and that organs should come from the body of a person and humans

should be born from a man and a woman. Human cloning rejects this idea because a child

would be produced from the stem cells taken from another person.
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There are new breakthroughs and advancements in human cloning that some

people are not aware of. Some of these breakthroughs or news could possibly change the

opinions of many people who are against stem cell research. Scientists have recently

conducted experiments on mice to produce embryonic stem cells without damaging the

embryo. Their procedure allows ordinary skin cells to act like stem cells. This means that

there was no damage done to the embryos of the mice because they only took the skin

cells. After they took the skin cells of the mice, they produced cells equivalent to

embryonic stem cells. There was no damage done to the embryos because cells weren’t

taken from the embryo, only the skin. If this procedure could be done with the skin cells

of human beings this could lead to a huge breakthroughs. There could be breakthroughs

in medical treatments without the moral or ethical concerns about the destruction of

embryos. If this procedure is successful with humans then there will be many more

people who approve of stem cell research. The people who were against it because of the

ethical and religious ideas that it was murder to destroy the embryo will have nothing to

oppose. Since stem cells will be produced from skin cells there will be no more ethical

oppositions to stem cell research. This achievement could also lead to many more

treatments and cures to illnesses or disorders.

Although many scientists are convinced that the procedure will work on human

skin cells as well, there is still some doubt that it will not. In theory, you could get

whatever you needed from your own skin cell and not need cord blood. But there are still

a lot of unanswered questions about the different capacities of cord blood, es cells, ips

cells etc (Weiss 7). Just because it worked with the skin cells of mice it does not mean it

will work with the complicated and intricate cell structure of human cells. There is no
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way to be positively sure on this issue so scientists aren’t praising their achievements just

yet. They have said they still have a long way to go and it will take further study to see if

their new achievements can be harnessed for human cells.

Step III: What I Learned

I have learned a lot of information and facts during my research that I did not

know in the beginning of my search. I had a good idea of what stem cell research was but

I didn’t know all of the facts and opinions surrounding the subject. I had originally

thought that stem cell research was primarily for future human cloning or advancements

in science. I was partly correct because stem cell research does aim for new

advancements in science and medicine but by using stem cells to cure diseases or

disorders that may be permanent or deadly. I also found out that stem cell research

focuses more on the breakthroughs it could provided for medicine and treatments than on

human cloning. In the beginning, I had an opinion on the subject and it changed during

the search of the paper. I started this paper being opposed to stem cell research because of

my religious as well as moral values. I was opposed to stem cell research because I

thought that it would lead to different things I didn’t agree with. However, during my

search I found out that stem cell research will most likely not resort to the things I didn’t

agree with which were human cloning and testing. However, we cannot tell the future so

for people who think that stem cell research may lead to human cloning and testing one

day, the question can still be argued.

The question of whether stem cell research is ethical or should be allowed is still

questionable and debatable today. There are many opposing and promoting arguments for

the subject, which are argued with opinion as well as facts. Although I have finished my
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research there is still one question that I had in the beginning that will go unanswered.

This is the question of the future outcomes of stem cell research. No one knows if stem

cell research will grow into something that will help all humanity or will ruin it as time

goes on. You can only wait to see that outcome because no one can predict what will

develop of stem cell research. I was able to complete my purpose and didn’t not wander

to a different topic. I had to research the for and opposing arguments on stem cell

research and I collected all the information that I thought was relevant.

This information changed my views on a very controversial and important matter

in our world today. It is important for you to know all the possible arguments for and

opposing such matters as stem cell research because it can sway your opinion many

ways. Even if you believe a certain topic doesn’t matter to you because it doesn’t affect

your life you would be surprised that it actually might. Don’t reject a subject or topic

because of its relevance to your life because your life is greatly affected by society so if it

affects society it may affect you. Keep your eyes open to what’s going on around you and

your mind educated to many different topics because if a time comes in your life when

you have to make a decision, you want to be sure of the decision you make.

Work Cited

Duffy, T. Diane. “Background and legal issues related to stem cell research.”
Congressional Research Service 12 June 2002. Student Resource Center: Richard
E. Nardini Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov 2007<http://find.galegroup.com>

Goodnough, David. The debate over human cloning. New Jersey: Enslow publishers, Inc.
2000

Leone, Bruno. Cloning. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. 2003

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Lerner, K; Lerner, Brenda. “Human cloning.” Gale Encyclopedia of Science 2004.

Student Resource Center: Richard E. Nardini Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov
2007<http://find.galegroup.com>

Lerner, K; Lerner, Brenda. “Stem Cells.” Gale Encyclopedia of Science 2004. Student
Resource Center: Richard E. Nardini Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov
2007<http://find.galegroup.com>

Michigan Catholic Conference launches massive internal Stem Cell Education Program.”
Us Newswire 1 October 2007. Student Resource Center: Richard E. Nardini
Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov 2007<http://find.galegroup.com>

Ostrom, M. Carol. “Human stem cells fix heart damage in lab rats; breakthrough results
could someday help heart attack survivors.” The Seattle Times 27 August 2007.
Student Resource Center: Richard E. Nardini Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov
2007<http://find.galegroup.com>

Shimabukuro, O. Jon. “Background and legal issues related to stem cell research.”
Congressional Research Service July 2006. Student Resource Center: Richard E.
Nardini Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov 2007<http://find.galegroup.com>

Torr, James. Medical Ethics. San Diego: Greenhaven Press 2000

Weiss, Rick. “Stem Cell Research (Discussion).” Washington Post 20 November 2007.
Student Resource Center: Richard E. Nardini Library, Franklin Park, IL. 8 Nov
2007<http://find.galegroup.com>