2007-02-04 21:19:43 · 7 answers · asked by mario 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Stem cell research is good in terms of helping to find cures for a multitude of human diseases. Stem cells have the unique ability to turn into any cell in the body, from skin cells to brain cells, heart muscle cells to specialised liver cells. As such you can imagine that if you had a heart attack and some of the muscle cells in your heart died, if you could inject fresh stem cells into your heart, they could grow where the dead one were and restore the function of the damaged heart. This has been shown to happen in experiments on animals.
It is very important to understand that there are 2 types of stem cell research: THERAPEUTIC and REPRODUCTIVE. In reproductive research, scientists attempt to create a clone of an organism from one of its stem cells (also called "CLONING"). This is illegal in most countries and the vast majority of scientists see it as unethical.
However, therapeutic stem cell research involves taking stem cell from a human (often from an IVF embryo that was due to be discarded) and growing it. The problem is, the cells needs to have the DNA of the person it will be going into. So, if you take stem cells from a baby's umbilical cord at birth and freeze them, then when the baby grows up and has a heart attack aged 65, those frozen cells could be recovered and injected as a cure. This is the future of medicine.
However, what if you don't have any stem cells stored? You can take another stem cell, say from an unwanted embryo, take out its DNA, inject the DNA from one of your cells and then allow it to grow and divide artificially before implanting it into your body where needed.
Most people who are against stem cell research don't understand the difference between therapeutic and reproductive research (as demonstrated by some of the answers above), even George Bush said in an interview that it is wrong to clone ourselves in case we need a spare organ in the future. He showed a total misunderstanding of the facts.
Hope this answer helps.
2007-02-04 23:51:46 · answer #1 · answered by Steve D 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is a good thing and the way forward for medicine in the 21st Century, that is if b****** Bush didn't put a block on its development.
Our current techniques to get similar results involve imprisoning and cutting open live animals which is certainly very evil, so I fail to see how Stem Cell research cannot be a step forward. It cannot be any worse than animal testing.
www.huntingdonsucks.com / gallery.html (without spaces) - the reality of animal testing - not for the faint of heart
2007-02-05 00:36:06 · answer #2 · answered by Buck Flair 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My stance on it is this while I believe that all life is precious and I think that everyone should be given a chance I also know that when couples go in for fertility treatments not all the eggs get used and they can choose to either save them or destroy them. In that situation I would rather see some good come out of the fertilized egg as opposed to just destroying it like it was yesterdays garbage. If they want to use those eggs to find cures for diseases then at least those eggs have served a purpose for human life and can hopefully have an impact on someone else's life. And I will pray for you sister I am so sorry to hear about her.
2016-05-24 17:35:10 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In and of itself, stem cell research and utilization of its works is good. What will make it evil is the same thing causing the illegal sales and manufacturing of prescription medications. Greed and the demand created by companies placing a high price on these products and then making them hard to obtain.
Our government plays a large part in the problem by passing laws making it even more difficult to obtain what should be a free market of supply and demand. The fact that they are in violation of the laws by creating monopolies in certain industries infuriates me.
2007-02-04 21:53:42 · answer #4 · answered by S E 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The research in itself will not be evil, but may in fact if properly used be a source of incredible advancement with the possibility of helping a large number of people suffering from degenerative illness. there is the possibility however that once research does go forward someone will optimise it,s use for negatives. It is sad to say this but the idea of selfish uses will always be more profitable than the selfless uses.
2007-02-04 22:54:34 · answer #5 · answered by iain d 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Evil? Yes!
It does seem like a remarkable scientific step forward, but the bottom line is: they are creating human beings to kill and use for spare parts... Inhuman!
2007-02-04 21:22:01 · answer #6 · answered by Nini 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If there is a bad way of using anything the human race will find a way of doing it..............
2007-02-04 21:22:56 · answer #7 · answered by Carl 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋