Embryonic Stem Cells for Research- Right or Wrong

Embryonic Stem Cells for Research- Right or Wrong There have been a lot of controversies regarding the latest stem cell research in recent days. People have been publishing a lot about this issue and it is all over the media lately. It has aggregated some religious groups in the world and they have been very stern towards the issue.

Here is my point of view regarding this issue: Unlike other cells in our body, each of which is specialized to perform a particular function, Stem cells are characterized by the ability to renew themselves by the mitosis division and differentiate in to a diverse range of specialized cells types thereby offering medical treatment to wide range of debilitating diseases. This new area of biotechnology seems to be a major breakthrough with the same potential to change the health care as the discovery of antibiotics more than 70 years ago which gave hope to millions.

But unfortunately this radical area of biology has fraught with ethical issues and controversies which had made the process of development slow. There are two sources for obtaining stem cells, one from the layer of cells of embryo in the blast cyst stage, these are called the embryonic stem cells and the other from the adult tissues called the adult stem cells. When the stem cells are retracted from the embryo, the embryo is completely destroyed. This is where the controversies begin. According to the critics, extracting stem cells from the embryo is like killing, it is a murder. In fact some religions in the world strictly prohibit it.

But I think its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. It is for the betterment of the humans and very beneficial for the society. As I feel that these stem cells have been used to save human lives and has enormous benefits. This stem cell therapy is used for the treatment of various dreadful diseases like Parkinson disease, diabetes, Alzheimer etc which does not have any cure even in the recent days. This stem cell therapy is considered to be better than organ transplant which gives rise to various infections. Moreover it also give rise to other issues like availability of the donors, tissue rejection etc.

Immunosuppressant drugs are given to the patients in to have under gone transplant making them more vulnerable to other infectious diseases. Hence embryonic stem cells have significant medical potential and can lead to numerous social advantages. Other alternatives to embryonic stem cells are adult stem cells which are found in the normal differentiated tissues in the human body and therefore are very hard to extract. Also they are less effective as compared to the embryonic stem cells Embryo is the stage in very first few weeks of the pregnancy.

That is the time when even heart of the baby hasn’t been transformed. Many people feel that embryos are not equivalent to human life as they can’t still swim out of the womb, so using them can’t be called killing. So I feel that killing something that is barely alive in order to save numerous human lives is justifiable. Therefore according to me, embryonic stem cells should be allowed for research purposes as they possess many advantages and can lead to major breakthroughs in the future. Who knows the word organ- transplant would just be history. by Makkiya Amanullah, Riyadh Saudi Arabia