Stem Cell Research Persuasive Essay

tem Cell Research: A BioMedical Era Where Impossible is Now Possible

Stem cell research is surrounded by controversy, relating to the morality of the use of stem cells for medical procedures. This is often associated most strongly with embryonic stem cells, due to the fact that in order to harvest embryonic stem cells the formation of an embryo is necessary. Commonly it is argued that, since that embryo could have potentially became a human that it is unethical to destroy them for research. It is important to note that stem cell research in its very nature is unique from any other medical research, this is because stem cells are essentially blank slates of human cells, undifferentiated, meaning that these cells have potential to become any …show more content…
“Spinal chord injury (SCI) is a devastating central nervous system (CNS) condition that often results in severe and permanent neurological deficits”(McMahill, 2). Stem cells have created an air of hope for those suffering from SCIs, promising research in canines, a much more similar subject than rodents, has began to progress towards are cure to paralysis due to neural stem cell research(McMahill, 2-4). A previously incurable and debilitating disorder, this breakthrough is a huge leap towards fixing a problem affecting millions. Furthermore, due to stem cells pluripotent nature, they can specialize into cells which further form into organs, done through nuclear transfer of stem cells extracted from fertilized eggs, thus allowing them to specialize into specific cells such as intestinal cells(Gurdon, 3-5). Afterwards, the newly formed cell will continually divide via mitosis, forming many other specialized cells of the type it was directed to be. Due to the emergent properties of cells (the sum of the actions of a system are greater than that of the individual cell(from bioninja IB)), the intestinal cells will eventually form a functional organ, despite the single cell being incapable of replacing the system. Therefore the use of stem cells has allowed biomedical advances in cures for diseases/disorders which a cure was inconceivable, due to the nature of the disease, thus stem cell research has great potential to benefit

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