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... o study if something is to be found. Many things can come out of this besides cures for disease and the reproduction of new organs for those in need of a transplant. Every person has a right to choose so let them if you are faced with a disease and need a transplant and the Doctor tells you he could get you a new organ but it was created from stem cells or you could wait on a list for a donor which would you choose?
On November 27, 2004 Swiss voters backed the 2003 proposal of stem cell research. Switzerland is the first country to allow complete stem cell research. Under the 2003 law, stem-cell research can only be conducted using fertilized eggs not older than seven days that are left over from fertility treatment. The written consent of the couple who produced the embryos is required before their stem cells can be used and each research project must be approved by an ethics committee (Fleck). Could this be a growing trend will President Bush change his mind now that he sees what other countries are doing.
Though research is limited in the U. S. there have been some break through with using stem cells to help those with disease. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms that stem cells derived from the umbilical cords of newborn babies are a viable and effective transplant source for thousands of leukemia patients who have no other treatment option. 'As many as 16, 000 leukemia patients diagnosed each year require a bone marrow transplant, but have no matched relative or can't find a match in the national bone marrow registry, 's ays Mary J. Laughlin, MD, lead author on the study and hematologist oncologist at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and University Hospitals of Cleveland Ireland Cancer Center. 'Umbilical cords that are normally discarded after birth could provide real hope for these patients. ' Cord blood transplantation provides leukemia patients with stem cells, enabling them to produce healthy blood cells in a procedure previously shown to be highly effective in children with the disease. As a stem cell source, umbilical cord blood is not controversial and readily available; in fact, cord blood is normally discarded after a baby's birth.
In South Korea Doctors used stem cells from "cord blood" to repair a woman's spine. The woman who has been paralyzed for nearly 20 years can now walk gain. They said it was the world's first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood. Though they cautioned that more research was needed and verification from international experts was required, the South Korean researchers said Hwang's case could signal a leap forward in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. So-called 'multi potent's tem cells those found in cord blood are capable of forming a limited number of specialized cell types, unlike the more versatile 'undifferentiated' cells that are derived from embryos. However, these stem cells isolated from umbilical cord blood have emerged as an ethical and safe alternative to embryonic stem cells.
Clinical trials with embryonic stem cells are believed to be years away because of the risks and ethical problems involved in the production of embryos regarded as living humans by some people for scientific use. In contrast, there is no ethical dimension when stem cells from umbilical cord blood are obtained, according to researchers. Additionally, umbilical cord blood stem cells trigger little immune response in the recipient as embryonic stem cells have a tendency to form tumors when injected into animals or human beings. California recently passed a $ 3 billion fun for stem cell research, the newly established California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will divvy out as much as $ 350 million in annual grants over the next decade to support stem-cell science in the state, be it embryonic, adult or cord-blood research. Proponents say the measure could generate millions in revenue and up to 22, 000 new jobs a year in the state. 'If you " re a scientist who's ambitious and wants to do research that has high impact, 's ays Larry Goldstein, a stem-cell biologist at the University of California, San Diego, 'this is the place to be'. At Harvard, stem-cell scientists are pushing ahead with bold and ambitious research.
Earlier this year, researcher Doug Melton created 17 new human embryonic-stem-cell lines using private funding. Melton, co director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, launched last spring, says he has since isolated an additional 11 lines, surging past the government's stockpile of 22. Already, he has shipped out more than 300 samples, mostly to scientists in England, Israel, Singapore and Australia, where embryonic-stem-cell research is less restricted; now the requests are coming in from California, too. Melton hopes to use somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), or therapeutic cloning, to create new embryonic-stem-cell lines that have built-in genetic diseases, like diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The payoff: scientists could watch genes trigger diseases rather than working backward and trying to figure out what went wrong in patients who are already sick. Even with these medical break throughs and see what can be done many still oppose this.
National Right to Life's Douglas Johnson calls that distinction 'artificial. ' Any kind of cloning, he says, 'requires the killing of human embryos. ' And while some states are becoming stem cell meccas, others, like Illinois, where lawmakers narrowly voted against endorsing embryonic stem cell research last month, are stepping back from the topic. At the federal level, meanwhile, Bush has stood firm on his 2001 policy; when asked if he might relax restrictions now that the election is over, a White House spokesman said, simply, 'No. ' That's not what the scientists want to hear. U. S. government funding supports the vast majority of basic scientific research in this country.
While developments at the state level are exciting, says Black, 'we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that this replaces federal support. 's centrists worry that without ample money from the government, which mandates strict oversight and peer-reviewed data, critical findings could be kept under wraps and scientific innovation trapped within state borders. Under Bush's current policy, a scientist cannot use a microscope or petri dishes bought with federal funds to study new embryonic stem cells created with private money. A patchwork of state laws, some of which clash with federal policy, will make things only more complicated, says Harvard's Melton, and might even lead to a scenario of official and unofficial information. 'That might work for the CIA, ' he says, 'but not for science. ' Even if embryonic stem cells don't help tomorrow, stem cell scientists believe that the biological lessons learned along the way, how healthy life develops, how diseased cells go bad could help those out down the road develop a cure. So many steps have been made in ways of using stem cells to help people with disease, but there are still many factors against scientists from learning more. Many government officials are opposed to this because they must please every one, but in the long run they might be hurting more people by not allowing scientists to study embryonic stem cells then the "potential" life those embryos could have had. Especially if embryonic cloning is allowed no "potential" lives will be compromised because there would have been no life at all!
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Research essay sample on Embryonic Stem Cells Stem Cell Research
