What Is The Controversy All About With Stem Cells?
Stem cells are two thing. They are specialized cells that come from an embryonic stage, or from an adult stage, and from there they are characterized by their potency. Adult stem cells are throughout the body once embryonic development occurs. These are typically found in the brain, bone marrow, skin, etc. or any other part where they remain dormant, or as non dividing cells until activated by a disease, such as cancer. Embryonic stem cells, on the other hand, are cells of an embryo that is in its first 3 to five days of development. Typically they are derived from extra embryo's that came as a result of invitro fertilization (egg is fertilized from sperm in a lab). In other words, scientists can easily make an embryo and use it for research, vaccines, and other things, without implanting it into a uterus within 5 days. This is very controversial because of religion and bleeding hearts. They relate a cell that is 5 days old as a human. All cells are living and using them in research should be banned according to their theological beliefs. But this is not the case, using living cells is fine, as long as the result is an eventual hum, whether it is implanted or not. In other words, taking a living cancer cell that grows is fine, taking a stem cell that grows is not.
The reason scientists are extremely interested in stem cells is because they do not serve just one function. Stem cells have the capacity to serve whatever function they are instructed to do. Since very cell in a human body is derived from a stem cell, these other cells have the potential to do as they were instructed to as well! In other words, a stem cell will instruct other cells to do exactly what they are supposed to do or programmed to do. Right now stem cells are especially important because researchers know they can use them to grow tissues such as organs. Ever hear of skin in a can ? That is a direct result of stem cells. Stem cells have proven to work wonders, however even though research is ongoing, implementing that research is closely monitored because of odd moral issues. Some people believe a cell that is five days old needs to keep separating, however those same folks want to take a living cell that is multiplying and kill it (such as cancer). So the real moral is, which of the two evils should not multiply, humans or cancer?
