Stem Cell Research
Stem cells look to be nothing more than a hollow sphere composed of a clump oftiny, roundish balls. In reality, they are much more than that. Those 40 cells contain allthe potential to become a living, breathing human being. Many scientists believe thatthese cells also have the potential to cure a myriad of diseases, including Alzheimer'sdisease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and many others. The cells of the four day oldhuman embryo can be programmed to become virtually any cell in the body making thema very valuable commodity. All this sounds very promising until one realizes the cost ofacquiring these miracle cells. Gathering stem cells from human embryos can be lookedat as nothing less that taking a life. (Begley 23) There are multiple reasons that the government should not fund research onembryonic stem cells but the most important has got to be the inevitable destruction oflife involved. What good is saving lives when they are being taken at the same time? How much since does that make? Who are we to decide whether these embryos get theirchance at life or not? Making a decision like that is playing God. Pure and simple. Wedon't even know for sure that stem cells can live up to the expe
To get to their cures, they must first destroy living human embryos to obtain thestem cells. Something that given the opportunity can become a full fledged, living, breathing, humanbeing. Using these cells wouldirradicate the need for the embryonic variety and end the current assault on human life. " Adult stem cells arevastly easier to obtain, and they are also more plentiful. The drain that such an occurrence wouldput on the economy is almost immeasurable. While the harvesting of embryonic stem cells should be out of the question,research on adult stem cells could be looked at as a very real possibility. Adult cells are more easily obtained, therefore researchon them is easier. " (Lacayo 19) The bottom line on this issue is that we don't know for sure if embryonic cellscan cure anything, and researching them requires us to destroy something that is alive. ctations that scientistshave for them. We should think long and hardbefore giving government money to a project like this. There are also several claims that adult cells proliferatemuch more slowly than embryonic ones, and that they may not provide a renewing sourceof new stem cells. SamBrownback put it why "kill anybody," when we can use the cells of willing adults forresearch by simply drawing blood. That fact makes stem cell research nothing more than a gamble thatmight save some lives, but will definitely cost some in the process. Early research suggests that adult cells reproduce slowerthan embryonic cells, but the supply of adult cells is seemingly infinite.
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