Stem Cell Research Ought to Be Unrestricted

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[pic 1]Figure 1. Osteoarthritis treatment which is administered to improve the complications in patients with OA, through the use of stem cells. (http://www.stemcellmedicare.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/osteoarthritis.jpg)

Religious groups are the main adversaries of stem cell research. Some groups being Christianity and Catholicism. Who Mainly argue that the use of the embryo to an abortion. And they argue that the embryo constitutes life and has the potential to become a human being (Stump, J. B., & Padgett, A. G., 2012).

Also, another argument they use is that it is immoral to sacrifice the life to save another (Stump, J. B., & Padgett, A. G., 2012) “On the other hand, the societal costs of many diseases and conditions, both monetary and suffering aspects, means that the ethical concerns regarding stem cell research are not enough to warrant abolishment of this promising therapy” (Torr, J. D., 2006). Furthermore, in relation to stem cell research, there are many embryos that are left over from in-vitro fertilization and would otherwise be destroyed (Torr, J. D., 2006). So, it is best interest to use these embryos for the sake of therapeutic stem cell research. And to expand on the idea of using embryos from in-vitro fertilization. There are around 400,000 human embryos in the freezers of in vitro fertilization clinics (Hyun, 2013). Many of these were just going to be thawed and thrown away as I said before. But parents of these embryos can donate them for research that someday could benefit patients with incurable diseases. This is a high purpose and this research advocates human health as well as understanding.

In conclusion, the research of stem cells is yet another innovation of mankind that has the potential to change how we see disease as well as ourselves. There are so many people with religious reasoning why this research is wrong as well as others with just ethical skepticism. Sometimes we must look past out dated views and see the opportunity we have that has been hidden with us since our existence. Stem cell research has so many implications that could help so many people. And it makes you think is all this worth a 5 day old embryo?

References

Hyun, I. (2013). Bioethics and the future of stem cell research. New York, NY:

Cambridge University Press. (Hyun, 2013)

Regad, T., Sayers, T., & Rees, R. C. (2015). Principles of stem cell biology and

cancer: future applications and therapeutics. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (Regad, T., Sayers, T., & Rees, R. C., 2015)

Stump, J. B., & Padgett, A. G. (2012). The Blackwell companion to science and

Christianity. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. (Stump, J. B., & Padgett, A. G., 2012)

Torr, J. D. (2006). Abortion: opposing viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI:

Greenhaven Press. (Torr, J. D., 2006)

Stem Cell Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2017, from

https://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/1.htm (Basics, 2017)

(n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2017, from

https://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/osteoarthritis/osteoarthritis_ff.asp