The Power of a Body Essay

Submitted By wbowman621
Words: 1675
Pages: 7
Open Document
Zac Bowman
Ms. Armor
Honors American Lit.
28 March 2012
The Power of a Body Lose an arm? Get another!! Need a heart? Plenty to spare!! A world filled with nothing but healthy people, no cancer or missing limbs. How could this be? The answer lies in stem cells and their research. It has been said that stem cell research is unethical, but through this paper it will be shown that it does not matter. The ethical concerns related to stem cell research are insignificant when it has the potential to cure currently incurable diseases, grow organs for transplants, and limbs for amputees, and perhaps many other uses that are currently unknown. It is necessary to know what a stem cell is, the different stem cells types, and where they are harvested.
A stem cell is a cell that has the ability to continuously divide and differentiate (develop) into various other kind(s) of cells and tissues. Like a blank microchip that can ultimately be programmed to perform any one of a number of specialized tasks, stem cells are undifferentiated, ‘blank’ cells that do not yet have a specific physiological function. When the proper conditions occur in the body or in the laboratory, stem cells begin to develop into specialized tissues and organs. Stem cells are also self-sustaining, replicating through cell division. (“Where”)
There are four different types of stem cells to worry about, namely: embryonic stem cells, fetal stem cells, umbilical cord stem cells, and adult stem cells. Another important thing to know is what stem cells are capable of doing. Adult stem cells can only produce the same type of tissue that they are found in. In other words, they replace cells that die and help to restore tissue after it is damaged. An example of this is in bones, every day blood in the body is replenished by blood forming stem cells in bone marrow. Umbilical stem cells are very similar to the stem cells found in bone marrow. Fetal stem cells and embryonic stem cells are also very similar to each other, they can, in theory, produce all the different cells in a body. It would seem that this branch of research would be invaluable in today’s world and that it could be put to use every second of the day, but unfortunately it seems most people have a view against stem cell research. This is probably because they have a narrow view of the research, “only 20 percent of Americans reported following the issue either “very closely” or “fairly closely” (“Public”). More than 80% of Americans are oblivious to stem cell research and its ongoing debate. It is no wonder there is such controversy, as it almost seems like no one cares. When stem cell research is said, the normal person thinks immediately that it is research for cloning humans and that children are killed to pursue this research. Of course they would be opposed to that. In reality, stem cell research is nowhere near that. The research is needed to determine how to turn on the regenerative abilities of stem cells, so that they can be used like some adult stem cells are used now. Today stem cells are used to treat leukemia by placing bone marrow from a healthy patient into the bones of a sick child. No one is considering that unethical or proposing that the science or treatment be stopped. Yes, stem cells can be gathered from the fetuses of aborted babies, but children are not killed to gather them. If parents were already going to get an abortion anyway, why not use that to advance our medical procedures? Furthermore, stem cells can be gathered from more than just the fetus. Embryonic stem cells are harvested from the early stages of a fertilized egg. Fetal stem cells are collected from aborted fetuses and umbilical stem cells are collected from the umbilical cord of a recently born child that used to be discarded. Adult stem cells are found in some of the tissues in the body (“Stem Cells”). Regardless of how the cells are gathered and whether some believe it is ethical or not, stem
Show More

Related Documents: The Power of a Body Essay

foucauldian paper

the surgery that improves or repairs the form or appearance of body parts (“Plastic Surgery”). With plastic surgery, one can alter any part of the body to how they would like their appearance to be. We talked about Foucault and how he looks at the human body and brought up the term “docile bodies”. In a Foucauldian sense we can look at plastic surgery as a means of people control their own bodies and they have power over their bodies. This raises the issue of what is right and wrong and the term…

Words 1031 - Pages 5

The Water Colors In Elie Wiesel's Island

consider applying any of the water color powers to him for surely they would be instant poison and death. The same would have happened to “Victor” back in the dimension when the water colors changed to poison. The water colors immediately start to turn poison on entry into the body system. Being young gave “Victor” the time he had to use the powers in a safe mode before the poison started taking affect on the body. “Victor” also had a very large body frame and extremely muscular even before falling…

Words 326 - Pages 2

Richard Swinburne's View Of Divine Omnipresence

knowledge and power. If God wasn’t everywhere present, and had not received information by means of a causal chain, there is no other explanation of how He had received information about a specific place. Furthermore, it is argued that the most immediate knowledge and power is not about one’s body, but rather one’s volitions. Although it is true, technically the true definition of immediate knowledge is knowledge that is not dependent on other knowledge. In that case, both knowledge of one’s body and one’s…

Words 1608 - Pages 7

Leadership Roles In Amy Cuddy's Ted Talks

past (taking deep breaths, visualizing myself as a powerful person, etc.) have not worked. My insides still shake, and in my head, my voice sounds as if it is on a body shaping machine. Now that I have seen Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talks Body Language video, I have hope that I can do what I have previously perceived as impossible, and my body language is the…

Words 807 - Pages 4

Uno and World Peace Essay

that if the human race was to be saved from total annihilation, a powerful world organisation was necessary to safeguard peace in the world. This was a noble and sane idea. On the 24th October 1945 the United Nations Organisation, the august world body, came into existence. It was welcomed by all the nations of the world. The main purpose of this world organisation is to maintain international peace and security. Its aim is to develop friendly relations among the nations of the world. This organisation…

Words 1567 - Pages 7

Nicki Minj Miley Bad

she, as a popular icon, is considered “lowbrow” due to the fact that she represents an active and a subversive threat to certain idea that a “power bloc” promotes. She represents a threat because she exhibits and acknowledges explicit female sexuality, is a successful female artist in a male-dominated enterprise, and is a black artist. Minaj utilizes her body in a way that is considered “inappropriate” and “out-of-control” by the establishment and as an attempt to minimize the threat she poses, Nicki…

Words 1866 - Pages 8

Native Women Sexualization

lives throughout the course of history. While women of color have been overly sexualized, white women seem to have been disqualified from both expressing sexual behavior and from being sexualized. Regardless, the female body has been sexualized over and over to the benefit of men in power. Sexualization can go one of two ways as proven in the differences between Native American and colonial white women. In the early course of American history, when English colonizers were coming to the New World and…

Words 1064 - Pages 5

Amy Cudd's Argument Analysis

If we start keeping track of the body positions we make throughout the day then it would be impossible for us to keep a track as throughout the day we change our body position many times. I have chosen an very interesting topic to talk about which have influenced the way I thought and have made me think differently just by trying the strategy which Amy Cuddy talks about in her argument. Amy Cuddy in her “Ted Talks” talks about how your body language shapes who you are. Her main argument was to show…

Words 678 - Pages 3

Essay about Pd Final

Column ➢ Ulna (lower arm) ➢ Femur (upper leg) Most of these bones are located around the arm, hand or shoulder region. However, there are still many bones in the lower body that function to hold the body still, e.g. the spine. Other bones such as the bones in the hip area, also work to turn and rotate the body during the downswing & upswing motions. The major bones involved in this area are: ➢ Femur (upper leg) ➢ Pubis (hip) ➢ Sacrum (hip)…

Words 1790 - Pages 8

Stealing Lincoln's Body Character Analysis

The title of Thomas J. Craughwell’s novel, Stealing Lincoln’s Body, immediately caught my attention and truly was the reason I decided to read it. I have always been fascinated with President Lincoln and the Civil War, yet I have never come across even the slightest mention of the plot to steal Lincoln’s body. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. His untimely death rocked the very broken United States of America and truly…

Words 1220 - Pages 5