Stem Cells are often referred to as the future of medicine and the foundation of curing seemingly incurable diseases. This is because they have the potential to become any cell you so which choose. According to Boston Children’s Hospital, the word stem cells first appears in a scientific journal written by German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1868 in which he describes the zygote or the fertilized egg cell that all humans originate from. This specific cell has totipotent power, meaning it has the ability to differentiate or turn into any cell in the body. Fast forward a little over 100 years and in 2005 stem cells were successfully being used to create mice blood cells. Recently the U.S government has put restrictions on researching and using embryonic stem cells ( the stem cells that are present in the embryo) because in order to harvest them you have to destroy a fertilized egg. According to Boston Children’s Hospital, there are currently only 13 lines of existing embryonic stem cells and in order to use them for research you must obtain a federal grant in order to use them. There are two categories that distinguish stem cells. Pluripotent and Totipotent seperate the two. According to the article “Stem Cells of the Human Body” stem cells that are pluripotent like adult stem cells and cord blood cells have the potential to divide into cells similar to the cells around them. For example a muscle adult stem cell can only become different types of muscle cells. Totipotent cells have the ability to divide into any type of cell in the human body. Only embryonic stem cells and the zygote have this capability.
As I explained before, adult stem cells are pluripotent meaning they can only turn into the cells near them. According to the Stem Cell Institute, dividing adult stem cells are often influenced by cells around them because they secrete chemicals that tell the stem cell which cell it should become. In an embryo the stem cells don’t have other cells telling it what to become, so they divide into many different types of cells and then eventually after lots of dividing occurs enough cells have been created to form tissues and eventually organs which them come together to form a multicellular organism. According to the National Institute of Health, scientist can now force these early embryonic stem cells to differentiate into certain types of cells like cardiac muscle cells by growing them in certain cell cultures in specific conditions. This is how scientists create the cells they need for research. According to Boston Children’s Hospital, Japanese scientists have now successfully induced adult stem cells to become totipotent which means they have the ability to become any cell in the human body.
Stem cells can be used in the treatment of diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and heart disease. According to the California Stem Cell Agency, stem cells, specifically embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into nerve cells and be used to replace dead or damaged nerve cells in the brain for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease as well as replace dying or injured cardiac muscle cells to cure cardiac problems like irregular heartbeat and damage after heart attacks. However, even though it sounds very straightforward and simple doctors and scientists alike run into several issues when trying to implement stem cells into the human body. According to the California Stem Cell Agency, very similar to organ transplants stem cell transplants can be rejected by the body because foreign cells are entering the body. To combat this scientists can only use your own adult stem cells, but the capabilities of these stem cells are limited because they are pluripotent meaning they can only become the cell type from where they are from. According to the California Stem Cell Agency, currently there are several files to the FDA asking for approval of trials of stem cell based therapies where an individual's stem cells are used for bone marrow transplants and blood infusions. However, as of now none have gotten the approval because they are still in clinical trials.
Although most people in medicine see stem cell as the future of medicine, many critics don’t like the fact that a human embryo has to be destroyed in order to harvest the totipotent embryonic stem cells. Many conservatives see this as destruction of life. However, scientists say that they don’t force donations of embryos and people donate them by themselves. According to FOX News, many scientists believe that an embryo is not a living being until about 2 weeks old when it begins to develop a complex and intricate nervous system. So the argument here isn’t about whether or not you get to harvest the cells it’s more about when life begins. So naturally the ones opposing stem cell research are religious groups and anti-abortion groups who believe that life is created at the “ Moment of conception, when a sperm fertilizes an egg, since a distinct organism has come into being” (FOX News “The Cases For and Against Stem Cell Research”). They also don’t want the government to fund stem cell research because they don’t want their tax dollars to be going to the researchers.
According to TIME Magazine, in 2001 President Bush limited the government funding on stem cell research in America. This restriction severely limited the progress of researchers and even destroyed thousands of opportunities for jobs. Many scientists weren’t happy because they had to get private funding in order to continue their research and at one point only 13 lines of embryonic stem cells remained in the U.S to do research on from the government. In my personal opinion I don’t see the reason why a limitation was put on the funding of the stem cells as I don’t feel like it violated any laws or rights. I agree with scientists who believe that life starts when the fetus has a conscience on what it is doing ( this is when the embryo is 2 weeks old and has a sophisticated nervous system) . Also the embryos were donated to science for research specifically so that means that there was no pressure on patients to donate or hand over their embryos. All in all stem cell research is important to not only medicine in the future but also to the millions of people suffering because of countless diseases that could be fixed if scientists have the opportunity to conduct research and experiment in order to come up with new advances.
In 2004 Proposition 71 was passed in order to allow 6 billion dollars to fund stem cell research for 30 years. It also established an agency known as the California Stem Cell Agency. They are responsible for encouraging California scientists to start stem cell research by giving small grants and awards. Scrolling through their website I was impressed to find multiple different projects and research opportunities currently going on in laboratories such as UCSF, Stanford and other third party medical companies. So far they have started 16 clinical trials for stem cell therapy and even have started specific differentiation ( when you tell a stem cell what to divide into). Dr. Tejal Desai of UCSF is working on using stem cells to cure type 1 diabetes. Seeing this rapid progress is really good for two reasons. First of all, it proves California’s investment in stem cell research is not only paying off its adding 1.9 billion dollars back into the economy according to the California Stem Cell Agency. Also, this rapid progress in 14 years is allowing scientists to start clinical trials in stem cell therapy. Without the money from the state no progress would be made to cure diseases like type 1 diabetes and doctors like Dr. Desai wouldn’t be motivated to get started on stem cell research.
To conclude, stem cell research needs to be funded, allowed and done because it is not only the future of medicine but it can add thousands of jobs and increase the economy of the country. California is a prime example of how stem cell research can easily boom and explode when properly funded. In just 14 years California has turned small projects into a billion dollar industry with 16 clinical trials started to create a stem cell therapy regiment. Although stem cell research currently is being funded in the U.S we haven’t seen as much of an impact as we see in California because other states aren’t interested as much because the states choose not to spend funding on stem cell research. According to the California Stem Cell Agency, restrictions on stem cell research in other states such as funding a procedures have deterred scientists from starting to conduct research because it is simply too exhausting financially to support a full scale stem cell research lab. This brings me back to my point, clearly there is funding in the U.S for this research but the problem is that there isn’t motivation because states have the authority to restrict the funding to stem cells. This can often cancel out the large amount of money the government has to spend on stem cell research because states like Georgia decide to not dedicate funding to stem cell research. This is partly due to the fact that the civilians aren’t educated about stem cells and the importance they have. According to the California Stem Cell Agency, before voters voted on Proposition 71 84% of them said they knew what stem cells were. In order for us as a society to make decisions we have to be educated about the things we vote about, in order to make the right decisions. All in all, I think there needs to be better awareness of stem cells and their capabilities and there needs to be fewer restrictions on researching on them.
