Stem Cell Research And Funding

5 Pages 1257 Words

Since the discovery of the utilization of stem cells to possibly cure millions of debilitating diseases, the controversy has focused on how ethical the practice is. But for the majority the controversy lies in the funding of the research. Federal funds are available for stem cell research but the government has put stipulations on that research leaving the scientist involved with few options. Should the scientist of the United States be forced to be overshadowed by the miraculous biomedical discoveries of other countries such as Great Britain because our government stipulates the research made legal in so many other regions of the world? The federal government of the United States needs to step up and realize that with changes in medicine come changes in practices, and these changes must be perfected before implemented. If the scientist of this country were given the chance the entire medical industry could be transformed.
Stem cell research is the utilization of a blastocyst. A blastocyst is the 14-day-old bundle of cells that have gone through the beginning of the cell division process after conception. These cells can be compared to a baseball. As a baseball has an outer leather layer that surrounds an inner dense layer, the cell has an outer layer of cells that will for the placenta and an inside bundle which will eventually develop into the 220 different types of body tissue. These cells are called pluripotent, pluri- meaning many and –potent meaning potential, because they have the ability to form any of many types of tissue and it is not predetermined which type of tissue they will form (Lewis et al. 39-58). These cells can be extracted and implanted into malfunctioning or even necrotic, dead, tissue to regenerate and replenish growth. Stem cells can be derived from many places; the most controversial is embryonic stem cells, which can be from abortions and In Vitro Fertilization clinics. Adult stem cells can...