There are very few issues these days that can compete with the war on terrorism – especially on the campaign platform. Stem cell research is definitely one of them. Should stem cell research be allowed to continue? Should stem cell research be allowed to reach its full potential? The answer to both is a resounding YES! Stem cell research that uses embryonic cells from blastocysts should receive public funding for as long as the cells are being used for therapeutic purposes and not for cloning of human beings. But, let us first answer the question, “what are stem cells and what is stem cell research?”
Human Stem Cells 101
Human stem cells are first seen in the earliest stages of human development. They are the building blocks for the human body and all its systems. Stem cells have the potential to become any cell in the body. As they reproduce, stem cells will either become specialized cells, forming tissue and organs, or continue being stem cells (and thus continuing to reproduce). If there is a “stuff of life”, biologically speaking, stem cells are it.
There are three types of stem cells: totipotent, pluripotent and multipotent. The totipotent stem cells have the full potential to become any cell in the body including all the cells necessary to make a fetus. These are the cells that would be used in human cloning. Pluripotent stem cells have the ability to become any cell in the human body, but they lack the ability to make an entire fetus. They are like a group of construction workers without a foreman. They essentially have the ability to make anything, but they lack the full vision of what they are making. Lastly, Multipotent stem cells are more specialized in their function. Therefore, they can become anything within a specified group. Think of them as specialized workers within an industry. They can perform any job within that industry but not outside of it.
When a human egg is fertilized, it splits into two layers of cells: an outer layer and an inner layer. The outer layer becomes the placenta, while the inner layer becomes the embryo. It is the cells in the inner layer that are harvested as the embryonic stem cells. These cells are typically of the pluripotent variety – especially during the very early stages of development. Once the stem cells are harvested, the embryo is destroyed. The stem cells are then arranged into “lines” that are then made available to researchers. It is easiest to think of the “lines” as the lineage that stems from a single embryo.
It is important to note that the embryos typically used for harvesting come from unused embryos surplused from In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedures. In IVF, doctors will typically create up to ten embryos in the event that the first few don’t work out. Once a woman is successfully impregnated, the surplus embryos are usually destroyed. That is, unless the parent(s) decide to donate the embryos to science for the purpose of embryonic stem cell research. As the embryo becomes more complex, the cells begin to specialize more and more in order to maximize their efficiency.
Multipotent stem cells are found in the bone marrow of living humans. In the bone marrow, these stem cells are responsible for the production of red and white blood cells. These cells can actually be transplanted from one person to another – provided there is a match in blood type and other factors – to aid in the curing of certain diseases and blood disorders. For example, leukemia and lymphoma.
The Goal of Stem Cell Research
The goal of stem cell research is to study the process of human development in hopes of gaining a better understanding of why we end up with certain deformities and illnesses such as cancer. Pluripotent stem cells could potentially be engineered to become cells or organs to replace defective or non-functioning ones in living people. In the future, there may not have to be long waits for transplant donors. In the short term, scientists are looking at using these stem cells to bridge transplanted tissue or organs, in order to decrease the possibility of the host body’s rejection of them.
The Socio-Political Points Of View
The points of view on stem cell research are most easily broken down into conservative and liberal points of view.
The conservative point of view stems from the belief in the sanctity of human life – regardless of how far along in development that life may be. The more extreme-right conservatives believe that by destroying the embryos, we are violating that embryos right to life. They view this as being akin to abortion. The less extreme conservatives, however, believe that we should be careful to not put the right to life before the right to live. As long as we are not “farming” embryos so that we can use them in stem cell research, the mid-line conservatives hold that “we are simply taking a potential life and turning into the saving of ‘living’ lives.”
Currently, from a legislative point of view, no public funding will go to stem cell research with new embryonic stem cells. Under the Clinton administration, stem cell research had much more support, and as a result, government funded the harvesting of approximately 60 lines of embryonic stem cells. The current administration put new restrictions on that research once it took office. President Bush believes that the life/death choice has already been made for those 60 “lines” and that they should not go to waste. He is very much against, however, the use of government funding to create any new ones. Interestingly enough, this legislation does not prevent private industry to fund any type of stem cell research.
Recently, the First Lady spoke out against the notion that embryonic stem cell research will offer a cure for illnesses such as Parkinson’s or cancer in the short term. To her credit, she makes a good point. It has been the practice of politicians to tout this issue as something that is on the brink of breakthrough. Scientists, on the other hand, speak not of the promise of what the research will offer in the long term. Instead, they concentrate on the potential that the research has to offer.
The Liberal Point of View
Scientists make a differentiation between the cloning of cells for therapeutic purposes from the cloning of cells for reproductive purposes (i.e. human cloning). In fact, for the most part, they are against human cloning. Their primary concern lies in the source of the funding for future stem cell research. If the majority of the research is privately funded, then the information becomes proprietary to the people funding it. This will more than likely delay any major findings since researchers will not be sharing any of their data with each other until a significant breakthrough is made. If the research were publicly funded, they would be mandated to publicize the results. In doing so, the knowledge base for stem cell research would be much broader, and thus potentially shortening the path to the answers they are all after.
While I agree that there is a need for infrastructure to ensure that stem cell research remains ethical, I believe that to not go ahead with stem cell research, is very naïve on our part. Even if we have not seen any great leaps forward in the research that has been done to date, the fact still remains that stem cells hold the potential for life, and the research that is done with them holds the potential for cures. Having had two parents go through different types of cancer, it would be nice to see a cure. Even though the ways to manage cancer have definitely improved, there is not yet a cure because we do not yet fully understand why it occurs. If stem cell research can allow us to look into the “inner-space” of physiological development, then I don't see why we shouldn't venture forth and explore this like we approach the exploration of our psyches, our oceans, or even outer space. It is time that we started to concern ourselves more with what makes us what we are, instead of worrying so much about who we are in relation to everything else we come in contact with. We should not be putting the right to live before the right to life. The stuff of life stems from here.
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DISCLAIMER: This blog is intended to house my opinions and observations on the world as I see it. Although my arguments may come from the more emotional realm I do try to apply as much fact as I have available to me at the time of writing. I am not writing an encyclopedia here, I am writing opinions. Av
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