Running Head: EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH Page 1
Carmelita Coto
July 22, 2014
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
PHI310
Stevens-Henager College
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH Page 2
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Embryonic stem cell reasearch has a longstanding debate history.
The 70's focused on research that involved fetuses in utero. The 80's shifted to research of transplantation of fetal tissue into adults with serious medical conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injuries. The latest saga involves using cells from days-old "spare" embryos that are created in infertility treatment process and all are considered unethical and unmoral issues.
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After this Congress created legislation codifying into federal law guidelines and then proposed by the NIH review panel. Recent debate concerns using cells in the process of infertility treatments. Scientists are most eager to work with them because they can generate all kinds of tissues a body may need and help repair damaged and diseased organs. This could offer hope to millions who have many medical disorders. But antiabortion activists argue against this type of research.
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH Page 4 In 2001 the Bush administration took office and many expected to move quickly toward stem cell research but President Bush directed DHHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson to review this issue. The policy sat in limbo and NIH cancelled the first meeting with the review committee. The support began building among antiabortion Republicans and let to Sens. Connie Mack and Thurmond announced their support for the research.Then Sen. Orrin G. Hatch announces his support and he was against it before. Interestingly politics always is involved. So in the meantime some states not willing to wait for policy sorted out on a federal level and those states are New Jersey and California. New Jersey put forth $11.5 million on budget for stem cell research. California is voting on a budget initiative in November to have similar
Most people are against Embryonic Stem Cell research mainly because they consider it unethical to use aborted fetuses for research. The two main issues concerning the research are the ethics (Cons) and the benefits (Pros). In any scientific case, ethics must always be considered. But the use of fetuses is something that is of the utmost importance. The costs are generally measured based off of people’s feelings, morals, and knowledge about the subject up for debate. The use of aborted fetuses for stem cell research may have many positive outcomes that can come of it, but many negative outcomes as well; If using aborted fetuses for research can, in the near future, save lives, then it is a research that should be supported, even though some
Embryonic cells should be allowed to be used because of the medical benefits they provide. They can be used to cure diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, traumatic spinal cord injury, Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, heart disease, and even vision and hearing loss (nih.gov 2009). There is no problem using them for medical purposes and it is not immoral to use them for this reason. Embryonic cells have the potential to save lives. Therefore, the usage of embryonic cells outweighs the ethical issues.
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
One political issue addressed by legislation in the state of Florida is the use of fetal stem cells. According to chapter 390.0111- (6), fetus experimentation is prohibited. The legislation states “no person shall use any live fetus or live, premature infant for any type of scientific, research, laboratory, or other kind of experimentation.” There are several pros and cons to the use of embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells can be used to develop an entire organ for transplant use, thus extended quality of life for the recipient (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2015). The use of embryonic stem cells has also been proven beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In a clinical study, FSC, was shown to decrease fasting blood glucose, as well as reduce insulin resistance in patients ((Demchuk & Ivankova, 2016). The main con toward the use of embryonic stem cell research is through the way it is obtained. Fetal stem cells are accumulated from an early embryo in the inner cell mass, causing the embryo to be destroyed (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2015). Another controversy surrounding FSC is that
Embryonic stem cell research is a controversial topic nationwide, because of its clash of ethical and moral values. Many people, including those suffering from diseases that this research is seeking to cure, do not believe in killing a living embryo in order to advance research and science.
There are people who disagree on the morality of using human embryonic cells, and stem cell research in general, nonetheless. Some stubborn pro-life organizations insist that the destruction of the “blastocyst, which is a laboratory-fertilized human egg” (White), is on the same level as murdering a human child and is entirely immoral and unacceptable. Even if these embryonic cells are being used to save lives and cure diseases, they believe it is wrong because the cells were taken at the cost of a
Although Manninen argues that stem-cell research utilizing embryonic tissue should not be conducted, she also explains certain scenarios where it would be morally acceptable. She mentions the “Principle of Waste Avoidance” and the “Nothing Lost Principle” which support the idea that embryos may be utilized for this research, only under the circumstances that it would prevent the embryos from otherwise being disposed.
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.
In the contemporary world of today, the issue of embryonic stem cell research is one of this controversial significant topic regarding which there is neither fair/moral agreement nor understandable, wide-ranging laws. As far as the ethical debate is concerned, it focuses on the verifiable piece of information that stem cell research consists of destroying the very early embryos of the human beings. The federal government has restricted the financial support for stem cell research to research that makes use of the stem cells obtained from a small amount of stem cell "lines" (Shapiro, 2006).
Millions of people die every year from diseases and accidents; the nightly news is filled with reports about the devastating effects of cancer, horrific accidents, and disasters that leave people disfigured or paralyzed. Embryonic stem cell research is a part of biomedical science and has the potential to ease the suffering of sick people by curing diseases and defects, creating organs and tissue for patients needing transplants or skin grafts, regenerating axons in spinal cord injuries, and creating new treatments, drugs, and immunizations. However, America’s government does not support this research to an extent that would make a difference in medicine; only a few stem cell lines are authorized, and federal funding is minimal. The
¨I am disappointed with the president's decision to initiate federally funded embryonic stem cell research,¨ Bob Barr. a former house of representatives member, argues that the use of human embryonic cells is morally and ethically wrong. (Procon.org) To elaborate on what Barr is saying, he's stating his opinion on how he feels stem cell research should not be legally funded. Also according to Michael Cook, no one was helped by human embryonic stem cell research. (Opposing Viewpoints) Many people believe human embryonic stem cell research is wrong because of the use of aborted fetuses. However, aborted fetuses are being sent to fertility clinics and then being destroyed after the abortion process is over, using them for stem cell research would be better because at least the fetuses are being used for good after something bad has happened to it. ¨Moral sincerity is not impressive if it depends on willful ignorance and indifference to logic,” says Michael Kinsley while talking about fertility clinics destroying more embryos than stem cell research. (Kinsley 30) Human embryonic stem cell research is not immoral and should be legalized for the help of aborted
“In 1995, Congress moved to prohibit the use of federal funds to create human embryos solely for research purposes or to destroy them (which effectively prohibited federally funded research into in virto fertilization).”4 However, the National Institution of Health sought guidance from the Department of Heath and Human Services because of the promise that the research possessed. “In January 1999, the general counsel determined that federal funds could be used for research involving stem cell lines as long as the actual derivation of those cells had been conducted with private funds.”5 This led to an increased amount of
Researches are continuously looking for ways to cure and treat all kinds of diseases, so why are there limits being put on the kinds of treatments that can be used to treat or cure a disease? Embryonic Stem Cells can be used to treat many different diseases, but some people have their opinion that using these stem cells in medicine is unethical because they are coming from a human embryo. There are countries that have banned the use of embryonic stem cells in medicine, and in America there are people arguing that it should be banned here. But what about all of the lives these stem cells are saving, what if research continues and these embryonic stem cells end up being a cure to a disease? With this in mind, human embryonic stem cells
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,
Contrarily, supporters of embryonic stem cell research argue that such research should be pursued because the resultant treatments could have significant medical potential. In addition, leftover embryos could be given with permission and