A Moratorium On Federal Funding

Imagine a world free from disease. The idea of a utopian society has been far from reality until the research from embryonic stem cell therapy surfaced. Since former president George W. Bush banned federal funding on embryonic stem cell research in 2001 it has caused a halt in advancements and caused controversy in the public. According to an article by Beau Watts, an accredited physician; embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells (Beau Watts). This means they have not decided what function they perform yet. Since the cells do not know the function, it can be determined by scientists. As described in the “Guidelines for the conduct of human embryonic research” by the international stem cell society; medical professionals can take an embryonic stem cell and “reprogram” it to eliminate the disease. Today 2,200 people died from heart disease (American heart association). Heart disease is only one of many diseases that can be cured by embryonic stem cell research. Religious and/or conservative groups now condemn the research, for multiple reasons. Embryonic stem cells are donated by patients of in-vitro fertilization. After a “round” of IVF, they can choose to donate, freeze, or discard their leftover embryos. Embryos contain two layers, it is the innermost layer that contains the cells used in embryonic stem cell research (Society for stem cell research). It is very important to know that, the embryos that could be used in the research are donated upon request of the patient.

Are embryonic stem cells the cure to many of the human body’s ailments, including defective organs and crippling diseases, or is their use a blatant disregard of human rights and the value of life?  Thanks to the rapid advancements in this field, the potential benefits of stem cells are slowly becoming reality.  However, embryonic stem cell research is an extremely divisive topic in the United States thanks to the ethical issues surrounding terminating embryos to harvest the stem cells.  In response to this debate, Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker amendment in 1995 to prohibit federal funding of research that involved the destruction of embryos.  President Bush affirmed this decision, but more recently President Obama lifted many of

The President’s Council on Bioethics published “Monitoring Stem Cell Research” in 2004. This report was written in response to President Bush’s comments regarding research of human stem cells on August 9, 2001. President Bush announced that he was going to make federal funding available for research that involved existing lines of stem cells that came from embryos. He is the first president to provide any type of financial support for the research of human stem cells. A Council was created with people who are educated in the field of stem cells to help monitor the research and to recommend guidelines and consider the ethical consequences that this research could create. This report is an “update” given

In our government today Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President are all faced with making tough decisions for our country. These decisions are not only decided based off the constitution but the ideological shift as generations go on. Possibly one of the most controversial landmark decisions the government is currently being challenged with is the affair of abortion. In 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States was presented the case of Roe v Wade. The ruling decided a person has the right to privacy protected by the due process clause of the 14th amendment. This gave women the right to decide to have an abortion, but only under regulations from the state. As a result of this case, scientific research was conducted on stem cells starting in 1978 when a scientist discovered stem cells in human cord blood. From 1981 to 1991 scientist tested stem cells in mice, hamsters, and later in primates. 1998 marked an important discovery of pluripotent stem cells in an embryo, which is where the problem lies between the morals and ethics of citizens and the politicians’ jobs to decide for the people what is right for stem cell research.

This executive order removed the barriers put in place by the Bush administration and allowed for federal funding for new stem cell lines to be created. However, the Dickey-Wicker Amendment was still at play. For example, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 was signed by President Obama on March 11, 2009 two days after the executive order. The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 still contained the Dickey-Wicker provision that “bans federal funding of research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death” (“Obama’s Stem Cell Policy…”). Due to this, the Congressional provision still prevented federal funding from creating new stem cell lines with many of the known methods for doing so. However, President Obama’s executive order does allow for the applying for funding into research involving the existing stem cell lines and further stem cell lines created using private funds or state level funding. As the publication “New Scientist” pointed out at the time, still “the ability to apply for federal funding for stem cell lines created in the private sector is a significant expansion of options over the limits imposed by President Bush, who restricted funding to the 21 viable stem cell lines that were created before he announced his decision in 2001” (Aldhous

There are several laws that restrict, but don’t completely ban advancements on the use of aborted fetuses for stem cell research. Closely related to stem cell research from embryonic cells is human cloning, which is in most states is not governmentally funded or is illegal. Lives of innocent children that are yet to even have a voice are lost every time a scientist uses an embryo for stem cell research. The embryonic cells are not taken with out consent from the parents. The cells can come from either an aborted child in the early stages of the pregnancy or from embryos that are left over from

If the government does not adequately fund research on stem cells, it makes sense that large amounts of discoveries would be made. It is in the government's best interest to represent the country as a whole, which would not be possible by taking one specific side of the ethical debate. Certainly, there are major advantages, as well as major issues, with stem cell research, but the most critical area of dispute comes with the idea of reproductive cloning through stem

This year, eight million innocent lives will be lost due to cancer. (cdc.gov) Eight million lives. That is equivalent to the entire population of New York City being eradicated because of one ravaging disease. However, there is a way to prevent these deaths, and this way is embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cell research has the ability to not only find cures to some of our nation’s most appalling illnesses, but it also involves beneficial utilization of the hundreds of thousands of unused embryos that die each year at fertility centers. For these reasons, it is essential that embryonic stem cell research be funded by the U.S. government.

On August 9, 2001 President Bush announced that he would allow limited federal funding for embryonic stem cell research under certain conditions. Under Bush's new ruling only the 64 stem cell lines that were already in place before August 9 were to be funded. He said that the government would not fund further destruction of embryos to create more lines. Also stem cells could not be obtained from embryos created for that purpose or from the left over embryos from in-vitro fertilization. However, private sectors would be allowed to continue producing new lines through the destruction of embryos.

. The money that congress is thinking of giving the Embryonic Stem Cell Research should go to a better cause such as,

Some scientist say most people are against fertilizing and making an adult stem cells act/behave like embryonic stem cells (iPS). They are against it because some embryos fail to implant in the womb and tons of couples lose a ton of money from this experiment. I would agree that some embryos do attempt to fail to implant in the womb however, this may also lead to rejection of healthy embryos or the implantation of embryos with development of problems. Will the government pay for research that involves human embryonic stem cells? Our recently elected president, Donald Trump, strongly disagrees. President Donald Trump may curtail( reduce in extent or quantity.) funding for embryonic stem cell research.Trump himself has said he “opposes abortion”. Tom Price, his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has opposed embryonic stem cell research on moral grounds also because embryos are killed during production of the cell lines. This is evidence on why the u.s/government do not think it's a good idea to put our funds into iPS and adult stem

Embryonic stem cell research is a highly controversial topic in today's society, this kind of stem cell commits to regenerate any type of tissue. Unfortunately, Embryonic Stem Cell Research has a dark side. To obtain these cells will kill the embryo automatically. In other words, the acquirement of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell includes performing an abortion. To obtain these cells, it would kill the embryo. This has created controversy since abortion is such a divisive topic. Politicians are uneasy to take sides. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell issue is today's Pandora's Box due to all the unwittingly chaos that it can bring to our lives. By having this new option available in the medical world,

Opponents of the research argue that embryonic stem cell technologies are a slippery slope to reproductive cloning and can fundamentally devalue human life. Some in the pro-life movement argue that a human embryo is already a human life that is entitled to protection. The National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) has recommended a ban on human cloning due to the threats it poses to people’s safety. The NBAC position is that, “It is important to recognize that the technique that produced Dolly the sheep was successful in only 1 of 277 attempts. If attempted in humans, it would pose the risk of hormonal manipulation in the egg donor; multiple miscarriages in birth mother; and possibly severe developmental abnormalities in any resulting child.” ("HubPages") With all these risks at hand I do not think it makes sense to continue with stem cell research when there are other methods.

Many governments have set their stem cells research policy. In United States, the president Bush announced a federal funds and gave an order to allow human embryonic stem cell research to continue which include only 60 cells lines that created before Aug 2001. After this order, hESC or SCNT production is forbidden. These cells lines are not useful for scientists because they are contaminated with pathogens from mouse cells. After that, the U.S. Congress passes the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 to increase federal support for embryonic stem cell research. However, Bush vetoes the bill. In 2009, The U.S. embryonic stem cell policy revised by the president Barack Obama who removed the federal funding limitations on hESC that placed by Bush. This developed new guidelines and protections for such research (furcht, 273-277). In Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea, and Mexico, they don’t have restricted policies for stem cells research. In United Kingdom, hESC or SCNT research is only permitted if the purpose is to increase the knowledge about the development of embryos and the dangerous diseases and how to relieve them. However,, United Kingdome is considered as one of the leaders in hESC research . In Australia, the government bans all SCNT but it allows the using of embryos that remained before April 5, 2002. (Dhar “Stem Cell Research Policies around the

The controversial topic of stem cell research has been a controversial topic for a very long time. In 2001, George Bush severely restricted government-funded stem cell research. In 2009, Barack Obama allowed it. The order says that National Institutes of health can produce new procedures and policies in which the money can be used. On August 23, 2010, a federal judge issued an order blocking all research of stem-cells, including that allowed even when Bush was president. On July 27, 2011, Royce Lamberth, Chief judge of the federal court in Washington, D.C., said that stem cells could be used for life-threatening diseases. The Court of Appeals agreed with this, and the case was brought to a close (Stem cell policy).