Alzheimer’s, cardiac arrests, strokes; wouldn’t it be great if we could solve these problems and more by replacing the bad organ with a brand new one? Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can turn into any specialized cell including heart cells, bone cells, and so forth. A blastocyst is a human embryo that contains stem cells in the center. Stem cell research is the idea that you can harvest the stem cells from the human blastocyst via in vitro fertilization. Scientists then take those stem cells and harvest those cells into the desired organ. However, there is some controversy about stem cells since some people consider it harming the embryonic blastocyst, or taking the life of a human. Yes, technically it is taking the life of a child, but not a developed child, also the blastocysts that would be used are extras that were produced during in vitro fertilization. Imagine the benefits: stem cell research can cure diseases, save countless lives, and maybe even make the world a better place in terms of a healthy population.
The ability to harvest organs including something like a heart or brain would open up so many possibilities, including the possibility of curing major diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Don’t believe it? Stem cells can be built into any organ or tissue and harvested. If problems with our body arise due to defects with our internal systems or organs, the idea of replacing them is simple. We do it today with artificial hearts, arms, and legs. We also practice a similar idea with organ donation. When somebody gets a serious injury and they cannot be saved, with the patient’s consent of course, the organs are harvested and “donated” to another patient in need of an organ(s). Wait! What if the organ grown doesn’t work? Like mentioned earlier, harvesting an organ is like organ donation, and those organs aren’t even you’re own! Harvesting stem cells to form an organ means to take the duplicates of the same stem cells that made you and harvest those into your organ. So technically it should be the exact same as the organ that you are discarding, only new and functional. If scientists were to continue with stem cell research, curing diseases would be something that we could do.
Obviously, if we can cure diseases, we can save lives. Did you know that roughly 2600 Americans die of cardiovascular disease, or CVD, every day? That’s about one person every thirty-four seconds. With the addition of terrible diseases like type two diabetes and obesity, cardiovascular disease will be a large problem in the twenty-first century. Now take a step back, if we can harvest organs and save these people, imagine the astonishing cut on losses due to CVD! Replacing organs means surgery, which is not completely safe, yet with 2600 people dying of CVD daily, surgical operations on people might lower the number of deaths. With so many people dying of disease shouldn’t we allow stem cell research to save these people’s lives. That world would be a healthier place.
The ability to cure so many diseases that we could not cure before is ground breaking. The possibility that we could save lives that we couldn’t before would simply change the world. Maybe, with less death and sadness the community might be more supportive of itself. Could it possibly even provide an entirely new line of jobs in medicine for unemployed people? Yes, it might. The process would certainly lead us one step closer to a Utopian society. Uh oh, wait. What if it’s too expensive? It will be, but I see a distant future where organ replacement is a common family practice. Where people commonly replace organs and stay healthy. Embryonic stem cell research is key to becoming a healthy society, to make the world a better place.
I believe stem cell research can do many things. It has too many benefits to pass up. Not only does it save lives, it fills the seat at the dinner table that could have been empty. Not only does it cure diseases, it provides hope to those in need of it. Not only can it save the world, it opens up new possibilities. I think stem cell research brings a futuristic world closer into view.
Bibliography
I would like to thank the following sources for information on stem cell research…
– William Duval. Stem Cell Basics. 2009. Institutes of Health, US department of health and human services. http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics6.asp.
– Teresa Phillips. Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research. 2011.http://biotech.about.com/od/bioethics/i/issuestemcells_2.htm
– Stem Cells. revised 11/15/11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cells