Embryonic Stem Cell Research

A different medical potential has been identified between embryonic and adult stem cells after intensive embryonic stem cell research. The number of limitations in terms of curative therapeutic applications is higher in the case of adult stem cells that cannot develop into a too large number of tissues. Moreover, the adult types are very rare, isolated and hard to get from tissues, not to mention that they present huge challenges to growing in cultures. Therefore, the highest emphasis falls on embryonic stem cell research, and this is where most medical hopes lie. The difficulty that scientists face is that of the transplant rejection, and this is in fact the reason why for many years the first phase of clinical testing has been postponed.

During the Bush administration, all American embryonic stem cell research was banned. The new American president, Barrack Obama, has raised the ban in March 2009, giving a new push forward to medical tests. Scientists don’t know what to expect from embryonic stem cell research because great benefits as well as serious dangers are revealed by lab work. Apparently, almost all diseases will receive a cure, if we are to trust a very optimistic point of view. The hope that one immobilized to a wheelchair could grow spinal cord back and restart walking is a miracle that science may turn true.

Embryonic stem cell research makes the subject of many international controversies and debates. How moral is the use of human embryos in research? The biological material usually results from in-vitro fertilization clinics, where the remaining embryos are donated for scientific purposes. The pro-life movement that opposes embryonic stem cell research brings lots of arguments against the use of such material for scientific purposes. Scientists are accused of playing God, which is neither fair nor right.

For the moment, embryonic stem cell research lacks in many respects. Progress is being made in the attempt to discover new remedies for irrecoverable diseases, yet, the path is very sinuous. Question marks do remain in relation to the morality of the process, to the safety of the innovative treatments and to the extent or efficiency of the results. It remains to be seen whether sacrifices are worth making along the way and whether the very debatable and debated embryonic stem cell research will ever become unanimously recognized and accepted.

Filed Under: Stem Cells