Stem Cell Research - Pros and Cons Essay Example
The debate of the pros and cons of stem cell research clearly illustrate the difficult ethics evaluations researchers sometimes must do.
by Experiment-Resources.com (2008)
All scientists must consider whether the positive effects from their research are likely to be significantly higher than the negative effects.
WHAT ARE STEM CELLS?
Stem Cells are crucial to develop organisms. They are nonspecialized cells which have the potential to create other types of specific cells, such as blood-, brain-, tissue- or muscle-cells. Stem cells are in our body all our lives, but are far more potent in a fetus than in an adult body.
Some types of stem cells may be able to create all other cells in the body. Others have the potential to repair or replace damaged tissue or cells.
Embryonic Stem Cells are developed from a female egg after it is fertilized by sperm. The process takes 4-5 days.
WHAT IS STEM CELL RESEARCH?
Stem cell research is used for investigation of basic cells which develop organisms. The cells are grown in laboratories where tests are carried out to investigate fundamental properties of the cells.
The controversy surrounding stem cell research led to an intense debate about ethics. Up until the recent years, the research method mainly focused on Embryonic Stem Cells, which involves taking tissue from an aborted embryo to get proper material to study. This is typcially done just days after conception or between the 5th and 9th week.
Since then, researchers have moved on to more ethical study methods, such as Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS). iPS are artificially derived from a non-pluripotent cell, such as adult somatic cells.
This is probably an important advancement in stem cell research, since it allows researchers to obtain pluripotent stem cells, which are important in research, without the controversial use of embryos.
There were two main issues concerning stem cell research with both pros and cons:
1. How the knowledge will be used
by Experiment-Resources.com (2008)
All scientists must consider whether the positive effects from their research are likely to be significantly higher than the negative effects.
WHAT ARE STEM CELLS?
Stem Cells are crucial to develop organisms. They are nonspecialized cells which have the potential to create other types of specific cells, such as blood-, brain-, tissue- or muscle-cells. Stem cells are in our body all our lives, but are far more potent in a fetus than in an adult body.
Some types of stem cells may be able to create all other cells in the body. Others have the potential to repair or replace damaged tissue or cells.
Embryonic Stem Cells are developed from a female egg after it is fertilized by sperm. The process takes 4-5 days.
WHAT IS STEM CELL RESEARCH?
Stem cell research is used for investigation of basic cells which develop organisms. The cells are grown in laboratories where tests are carried out to investigate fundamental properties of the cells.
The controversy surrounding stem cell research led to an intense debate about ethics. Up until the recent years, the research method mainly focused on Embryonic Stem Cells, which involves taking tissue from an aborted embryo to get proper material to study. This is typcially done just days after conception or between the 5th and 9th week.
Since then, researchers have moved on to more ethical study methods, such as Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS). iPS are artificially derived from a non-pluripotent cell, such as adult somatic cells.
This is probably an important advancement in stem cell research, since it allows researchers to obtain pluripotent stem cells, which are important in research, without the controversial use of embryos.
There were two main issues concerning stem cell research with both pros and cons:
1. How the knowledge will be used