What is stem cell research?

Question

And why is it so controversial?

Answer 1

It's the study of cells in an unborn baby that have not yet become specialized. Before about 2 weeks into a pregnancy, the cells of a baby have not yet specialized into brain, heart, skin, bone, etc. Scientists are studying these cells to see whether they can begin to form certain organs for people that need them. So people won't have to wait for an organ transplant, one can be made for them.
It's controversial because it does involve destroying what could have become a child.

Answer 2

The human body contains 220 different types of cells such as blood, brain, heart tissue, nerve cells, bones, etc. In 1998, researchers at the University of Wisconsin and the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore MD found a way of harvesting stem cells from embryos and maintaining their growth in the lab. Stem cells are a type of primitive cell. Scientists have found ways of coaxing these stem cells to develop into most types of human cells, Researchers are confident that they will lead to treatments to many diseases: bone loss, broken bones, brain damage due to oxygen starvation, severe burns, cancer (some forms), diabetes, Lou Gehrig's disease, heart disease, hepatitis, incomplete bladder control, Huntington's, leukemia, lupus, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, and stroke! The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research estimates stem cell research shows promise to develop cures and/or new treatments for 100 million Americans who currently suffer from a wide variety of diseases and disorders.



Research is opposed by many pro-lifers, mainly Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants. They feel that the embryos from which the stem cells are often extracted are human persons. Many believe that the embryos have a soul. Since the embryos are killed when the stem cells are removed, pro-lifers view the extraction procedure as murder and a type of Nazi-like medical experimentation on human beings. They generally have no objection to adult stem cells that are extracted from an umbilical cord, a child's body or an adult's body, if the appropriate consent is obtained.

Answer 3

Stem Cell, source of all body tissues. Stem cells can replicate themselves or make any type of cell required to build an organism. Our growth and development—from single cell to mature adult—arises from and is maintained by stem cells. Moreover, stem cells may provide powerful tools for biological research and medicine.

DEBATING THE USE OF STEM CELLS
Despite the promise of stem cells, they have stirred considerable controversy. In large part, the controversy surrounds the source of stem cells used in research. Most of these stem cells come from embryos, in particular embryos left over from infertility treatments. During a treatment known as in vitro fertilization, eggs that have been surgically removed from a female ovary are placed in a laboratory dish with male sperm. In some cases more than one egg becomes fertilized, creating extra embryos. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos at a very early stage, about the time the embryo would have attached to the wall of a uterus.

The use of embryonic stem cells in medical research raises a fundamental question: Do these cells come from human tissue or from humans? Some people oppose the use of anything, including stem cells, from an embryo that is viable (able to grow). For people who take this philosophical position, stem cell research involves the destruction of a human life. An opposing viewpoint states that these embryos would never develop into humans, because they would be either discarded or kept frozen in laboratories for future research. Consequently, some people argue that this material should be used in any way that could possibly improve human life.

Some people who oppose the use of embryonic stem cells point out that scientific investigators could rely on other sources. A variety of body tissues—including bone marrow and blood from an umbilical cord—can also provide stem cells. However, no one knows if these tissues produce stem cells that equal embryonic cells in their versatility and thus in their potential for treating human disease.

MEDICAL RESEARCH
In 1981 scientists first grew cultures of stem cells from mice embryos. Although that achievement marked the beginning of extensive research, growing human stem cells in a laboratory remained an elusive goal until 1998. That year two research teams independently announced that they had isolated and grown human stem cells. The teams were led by biologists John Gearhart at Johns Hopkins University and James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

During the late 1990s scientists discovered many characteristics of stem cells. Perhaps most interesting, various investigators showed that even mature stem cells from one tissue—the blood, for example—can create cells of another tissue type, such as neurons (nerve cells) for the brain. In some of the most exciting results, researcher Fred Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies showed that the brains of adult humans can create new neurons. Before Gage’s discovery, neurobiologists assumed that our brain did not create any new cells after birth. Presumably, the capacity for ongoing creation of neurons comes from stem cells. In addition, Gage and his colleagues found that a mentally stimulating environment or even exercise can enhance the creation of neurons in the brain.

By the end of the 20th century researchers had not yet developed any medical treatment that relied on isolated stem cells grown in culture. Yet the medical profession used stem cells to treat diseases long before anyone isolated one. In 1968 scientists performed the first successful bone marrow transplant, a procedure in which a patient receives an infusion of healthy bone marrow cells. The purpose of such transplants is to restore the blood-making capabilities of the patient’s diseased bone marrow after extremely strong chemotherapy has destroyed that bone marrow. From the beginning investigators suspected that stem cells in the infused bone marrow make this technique work. Bone marrow transplants are now a standard therapy for certain cancers, such as leukemia and lymphoma, and for other diseases of the blood and bone.

Answer 4

I'm not really sure about the "controversy" but healthy gene's are used to help repair damaged strands ,that maybe mutated and sometimes deadly

Answer 5

it is the research used to cure major diseases in society but involves the usage of an unborn baby. it is so controversal because some people dont believe in killing an unborn baby.

Answer 6

A stem cell is a primitive type of cell that can be coaxed into developing into most of the 220 types of cells found in the human body (e.g. blood cells, heart cells, brain cells, etc). Some researchers regard them as offering the greatest potential for the alleviation of human suffering since the development of antibiotics. Over 100 million Americans and two billion other humans worldwide suffer from diseases that may eventually be treated more effectively with stem cells or even cured. These include heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

Stem cells can be extracted from very young human embryos -- typically from surplus frozen embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures at fertility clinics. A couple undergoing IVF is faced with four alternatives for their 16 or so surplus embryos:

Have them discarded.
Donate the embryos to another infertile couple in what is sometimes called "embryo adoption.".
Donate the embryos for research
Have the embryos preserved at very low temperatures.

There are very few parents willing to give their embryos to another couple for a variety of emotional reasons. There are very few couples willing to receive them for emotional reasons and because thawed embryos have such a low chance of starting a pregnancy. Preservation can be expensive. So most ask that they be discarded.

There are currently hundreds of thousands of surplus embryos in storage. One source estimated that there were 400,000 stored embryos by mid-2003. 4 However, a minority of pro-lifers and a majority of pro-life organizations object to the use of embryos in research. They feel that a few-days-old embryo is a human person. Extracting its stem cells kills the embryo -- an act that they consider to be murder. Stem cells can now be grown in the laboratory, so (in a pinch) some research can be done using existing stem cells. No further harvesting needs to be made from embryos. However, existing stem cell lines are gradually degrading and will soon be useless for research.

Stem cells can also be extracted from adult tissue, without harm to the subject. Unfortunately, they are difficult to remove and are severely limited in quantity. There has been a consensus among researchers that adult stem cells are limited in usefulness -- that they can be used to produce only a few of the 220 types of cells in the human body. However, some evidence is emerging that indicates that adult cells may be more flexible than has previously been believed.

Government research using embryo stem cells had been authorized in Britain, but was initially halted in the U.S. by President George W. Bush. He decided on 2001-AUG-9 to allow research to resume in government labs, but restricted researchers to use only 72 existing lines of stem cells. By 2003-MAY, most of these lines had become useless. Only 22 remained in mid-2006, and many of them were of limited usefulness because of DNA damage.

Research continues in U.S. private labs and in both government and private labs in the UK, Japan, France, Australia, and other countries. On 2002-SEP, Governor Davis of California signed bill SB 253 into law. It is the first law in the U.S. that permits stem cell research. Davis simultaneously signed a bill that permanently bans all human cloning in the state for reproduction purposes -- i.e. any effort to create a cloned individual.

Following former president Ronald Reagan's death due to Alzheimer's in 2004-JUN -- a slow, lingering disease that took a decade to kill him -- Nancy Reagan and all of her family, except for Michael Reagan, mounted a campaign to encourage President Bush to relax restrictions on embryo stem cell research. Fifty-eight senators, almost all Democrats, sent a letter to President Bush, urging the same action.

A federal bill passed the House on 2005-MAY-24 to allow government funded research on embryonic stem cells extracted from surplus embryos in fertility clinics. It was later passed by the Senate. President Bush vetoed it -- his first veto of his presidency.