The big excitement about stem cell research are all the benefits in the field of regenerative medicine and theraputic cloning. Adult stem cells have already shown really encouraging signs showing that they can be used to replace blood-forming cells that are killed during chemotherapy to be used in bone marrow transplant patients. 1 The other possible uses for stem cells could be used to aid in helping thoses with Parkinson's, Alzheimers, or even burn victims, people with MS (muscle disorder), and much much more. They are possible cures through stem cell therapy and ways to figure out reasons why diseases happen and what could be used to treat or cure those diseases. 2
But wait a minute, what about all of those fetuses that have to be killed just for the sake of science. Well, lets get one thing straight, though numerous sources of information have said somewhere in their articles about stem cell research dealing with aborted fetuses that simply is not true. The stem cells, for one, need to be alive and abortion kills the stem cells. Also the best stem cells come from embryos about 5 days old. How do they get these fertilized eggs? They recieve these eggs from in vitro fertilization clinics. They take the left over embryos that are going to be discarded. Right now there are approximately 400,000 embryos in the fertilization clinics, 2 many of whom are destined to be discarded to die. So scientists of stem cell research take those unwanted fertilized, those that are donated by the parents of the embryos, and use them for life altering and life saving research. This is kind of like a life for a life. But those lives being used for research were going to be trash, killed, worthless. Now they are being used for the betterment of humanity.
There are other means of getting stem cells. As previously stated in past posts, stems cells can come from adult cells and umblical cord blood. They are both types of stem cells, they just aren't as effective as embryonic stem cells. But a Japanese scientist has figured out a way to turn adult stem cells into embryonic-like stem cells which allows for a greater range of study without all the ethical red tape. Adult skin cells have most recently been used for this type of reconfiguration. This great because now so much more can be studied on a greater playing feild and possibly a faster way to find cures.
There are also guidlines set in place by scientist, ethicists, lawyers, and patient advocates to ensure stem cell research proceeds in well defined limits so that careful ethical oversight of all research using human eggs, embryos, or cell lines derived from these tissues (California adopted this in 2005). 2 No money is paid for these embryos and all of the proposed researched must be reviewed by a board knowledgable in stem cells, stem cell research, and ethics before anything can happen. This is a great way to ease the feelings of people about extracting crazy scientists from using discarded embroys for human cloning or something that is ethically similar.
Here is a video of beating heart muscles cells that were derived from human embryonic stem cells. http://www.isscr.org/video/beatingMyocytes.mpg 3
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