Marley Emerich

Gr. 9

Biology/Chemistry

Stem Cells One World Essay

Beijing BISS International School

School Code: 1123

Date Submitted: September 26, 2011

What if one cell could be the cure to cancer? What if one cell could cure

Parkinson’s disease, or a paralyzed body? Scientists worldwide are already hard at work

in perfecting the art of Embryonic Stem Cell transplants. An embryonic stem cell is

totipotent, which means it can become any cell in your body. For this reason embryonic

stem cells are so valuable. Imagine a world where a simple stem cell transplant could

cure cancer or bring back someone’s paralyzed legs. Scientists harvest the stem cells

from an embryo and have been trying to cure illnesses and injuries with these cells.

Embryonic Stem Cell research is a recent study only to spark interest around 1995.

Because of its many ethical controversies, in 1999 the congress in the United States

banned any federal or government funding of the studies. Any studies and trials would

have to be funded privately. Until 2009, President Obama lifted the law and allowed the

government to fund the studies. , (2009, Obama Ends Stem Cell Research Ban, CBS

NEWS) Now, with endless possibilities there is even more hope to what embryonic stem

cell research can do. But there are many issues presented with the research as well.

Ethical as well as political and some religious issues arise when the topic of embryonic

stem cell research comes up. In this One World Essay I will discuss the science of stem

cells and how to harvest them, the advantages and disadvantages of using them, and

finally the One World Issues and their relationship to the stem cell research. First off, I

will describe the science of acquiring stem cells.

There are two

main methods to

acquiring stem cells.

There is the method that

requires embryonic stem

cells and the method that

uses therapeutic cloning

to create stem cell lines.

The method that most

scientists are eager to

perfect is embryonic

stem cell method. This

method is more useful because embryonic stem cells can become any other cell in your

body. Figure 1 shows how it is done. The procedure begins with harvesting or taking a

fertilized embryo that was made using In Vitro Fertilization from a donor. In Vitro

Fertilization is a way of creating embryos without actual intercourse. The sperm is

mixed with egg in a dish and then used either for research or planted in a woman’s

uterus. After the embryo is fertilized, a scientist takes a single cell from the embryo,

which is then put into a dish, which contains all vital nutrients and suitable environment

for the cell to survive and grow. Scientists hope to use these cells to one day grow new

healthy organs or cure diseases like cancer by replacing the mutated cells with new and

healthy ones. (cord-blood-cells.com, Harvesting Embryonic Stem Cells) This is just one

Figure  1  -­‐  One  form  of  stem  cell  cultivation.  Using  IVF.  (Stem  Cells,  Year  Progress  Report,  whyflies.org  

of the procedures that involves stem cells but it is the one with the most controversy

because you kill the embryo in the process. But learning about both the advantages and

disadvantages of the research is a key element in why there is so much controversy in

the research.

There are many advantages

to using stem cells. The biggest

advantage is the ability to use the

growing stem cells to make new

organs and tissues. People

worldwide have already been using

adult, embryonic, and cloned stem

cells to treat diseases like

Parkinson’s or Leukemia. Scientists

have also successfully made

bladders of all sizes out of stem cells. Dr. Anothony Atala (Wake Forest University) has

created multiple bladders and almost every type of human cell. Bladders can easily be

made outside of the human body, as can many other cells and even heart valves with the

help of stem cells. Although some of the more complex cells like pancreas, liver, and

nerve cells cannot survive growing in a dish. Another huge advantage to adult stem cell

transplants in particular is that a donor can use his or her own tissue (or DNA) to

generate new skin or other organs. This means that donors and doctors don’t have to

worry about donor rejection or any infections that another person’s tissue could cause.

Dr. Atala also discovered that amniotic fluids contain stem cells. This is another

Figure  2  -­‐  Since  March  of  2010,  the  amount  of  people  treated  with  Stem  Cell  therapy  for  their  conditions  successfully.  (Canadian  Stem  Cell  

Foundation  Blog,  2010  

advantage because their stem cells fluids can help regenerate the cells that can’t grow in

a dish and have also proven to grow muscle and bone. (Alice Park, The Science of

Growing Body Parts, www.time.com, 2007) One day, this process could work for every

single organ and disease, and millions of sick people could be saved. But there are

always disadvantages to research like this as well.

There are several disadvantages to using stem cells. One is the serious problem

with donor rejections. While with some cases donor rejection is not usually a problem

there is always the possibility of it. For example, if someone gets a bladder transplant

made by embryonic stem cells, there is a possibility the patients body would reject the

transplant because it detects it as a foreign object and would attack the organ. This

could cause serious illness or infections depending on the situation. Sometimes it’s not

just infection but instead the cells mutate and could cause tumors and at many times,

cancer. Another disadvantage is, the process of getting donors is also a very long and

painful one. When women donate eggs it is not only very painful and costly, but a

woman can only donate a certain amount of eggs at a time. For the women, there is a

risk of infertility after the surgery. There is also the possibility of infection or bleeding

which could possibly alter the woman’s fertility or ability to conceive children. IVF1, Egg

Donor Risks, ivf1.com) And with the limited amount of eggs a woman can donate at a

time, over 500,000 women would have to be willing to do so for enough eggs for

successful research or transplants. This number is very unrealistic and is a major

disadvantage. So not only can stem cells be dangerous and the process be painful for

both the donor and patient, but also there are some major ethical issues presented with

it.

Some people consider a child to be alive the minute it is conceived. Other people

believe that it’s months until the child develops awareness and a brain for it to be

considered alive in the mother’s womb. With every embryonic stem cell procedure, or

bit of research, an embryo has to die. Embryos in this research are taken from the

blastocyst, which is the embryo five days into gestation. But because the child has not

really formed, and was made for the purpose of stem cell research and made using in-

vitro fertilization, it’s a debate on whether using the embryonic stem cells is killing or

not. Most scientists and many other people believe that using this embryo is not killing a

human life and that the child has not formed at all and the embryo was made for the

purpose of research. If the problem people have with embryonic stem cell transplant is

the idea of killing a potential human that would grow and live, then they need to take

into consideration that 73% of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) transplants don’t survive

anyway. That is, 1 out of 4 IVF transplants survive, so the embryo harvested probably

wouldn’t have survived anyway. (http://reliableinfertilityanswers.com/ivf-statistics/)

Although, there are many religious groups and people who think that from the moment

of conception, that embryo is a living human soul. It is also a fact that at the moment of

conception, all the embryos DNA and genetic material is formed. This is technically

giving it a unique structure and what some people believe to be its soul or personality.

What would this child have become? What could he or she have done for the world if it

had been born? (Dónal P. O'Mathúna, PhD, http://cbhd.org, 2000) Even if it is helping

a human life, no one has the right to take away another. Both sides have good points,

but no one can say for certain which one is right. But there are also some political issues

presented with stem cells.

Federal funding for stem cell research was banned for eight years in the United

States. (B.A Robinson, Politics of Extracting New Stem Cell Lines,

religioustolerance,org, 2003) In eight years, the amount of research and discoveries

that could have been made are enormous. Because there was no government funding of

the research, scientists doing trials and studies had to rely on donations alone. Religious

groups would cause scenes and protests around the country because they disagreed with

stem cell research. For this reason, the studies were frowned upon in the United States

for many years. Other countries such as China, Australia, and Singapore excelled in

research for many years. In 2008, President Obama revoked the law because "medical

miracles do not happen simply by accident," (2009, Obama Ends Stem Cell Research

Ban, CBS NEWS) and promised his administration would make up for the ground lost

under his predecessor. This was a major step and since then there has been more

progress and discoveries with stem cells. But many people still strongly disagree with

the research. The protests and unhappiness of the people causes bad press and makes

the government look bad. There was much controversy that this was the reason that the

government banned the funding before, because it caused bad press. This was the

reason the United States banned it. But in the end, this research is more beneficial

towards the government than it is bad. More people in the United States are being

treated for diseases and injuries. The more discoveries the Untied States makes, the

more the other countries who support stem cell research will approve of them. This

research could possibly bring countries together peacefully. It aids the country

economically, politically, and it helps the thousands of people who are getting treated by

stem cells.

Personally, I find nothing wrong with Stem Cell research. If scientists can perfect

it, every disease and injury will be able to be cured. Imagine a world with no sick. No

one dying of cancer or AIDS. There will never be anyone who can’t walk again. If the

donor is willing to give her egg for research then so be it. There was no real conception.

The egg was made for research and hasn’t developed any consciousness or organs. It is

not a human. So in the end, stem cell research is a tremendous and amazing discovery

that has benefited the world in so many ways. It has cured diseases and injuries,

harvested new organs, and saved lives. Whether or not it’s taking a life or not, the

research has saved thousands upon thousands of lives and will continue to with the

research still rolling in. The laws have been lifted and the doors to the discoveries have

opened. It’s not taking a life; it’s giving it back to the thousands who might lose it.

Bibliography:

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Pictures:

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• "March « 2010 « The Stem Cell Foundation Blog." Renew the World. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <http://stemcellfoundation.ca/blog/2010/03/>