Part III Opposing Views
Stem cells taken from aborted embryos can be used as treatments for a variety of illnesses such as blood disorders, cancers, and brain injuries. As great as they are, they are decried as immoral by pro-life activists and other members of the general public. But recent studies have given scientists better reason to not use them. Research done at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that embryonic cells that are used to help cure cancer, can also cause it.
Recent studies on mice have shown that sometimes embryonic stem cells are rejected by the immune system. "Earlier reports showed the same rejection using mouse embryonic stem cells injected into the heart, with increasing rejection potential as the cells differentiated. With other differentiated embryonic stem cells similar rejection has been observed"(Dr. David Prentice). This is only one of the issues with embryonic stem cell treatments. One other major problem with embryonic stem cell treatment is that it can cause cancer. "Of course, the FDA has yet to approve any clinical trial with embryonic stem cells because these cells (whether growing or even pre-differentiated) have a nasty tendency to form cancerous tumors" (Dr. David Prentice). So with these problems in mind, can we really justify the use of stem cells to help cure diseases?
A couple of the other issues include the ethical reasons and the fact that most people won’t approve any use of public money to destroy human embryos in any type of medical research. The ethical reasons include issues such as, embryos are humans from the day they are conceived, people think if we mess with human life in this manner, then we are in a sense trying to play God, and people also think we shouldn’t mess with human lives.
In conclusion, if we are to use a human life to save a human life, we really aren’t saving anyone. We are essentially playing God because bringing someone back who was knocking on heaven’s door is not something a human should do.
Stem cells taken from aborted embryos can be used as treatments for a variety of illnesses such as blood disorders, cancers, and brain injuries. As great as they are, they are decried as immoral by pro-life activists and other members of the general public. But recent studies have given scientists better reason to not use them. Research done at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that embryonic cells that are used to help cure cancer, can also cause it.
Recent studies on mice have shown that sometimes embryonic stem cells are rejected by the immune system. "Earlier reports showed the same rejection using mouse embryonic stem cells injected into the heart, with increasing rejection potential as the cells differentiated. With other differentiated embryonic stem cells similar rejection has been observed"(Dr. David Prentice). This is only one of the issues with embryonic stem cell treatments. One other major problem with embryonic stem cell treatment is that it can cause cancer. "Of course, the FDA has yet to approve any clinical trial with embryonic stem cells because these cells (whether growing or even pre-differentiated) have a nasty tendency to form cancerous tumors" (Dr. David Prentice). So with these problems in mind, can we really justify the use of stem cells to help cure diseases?
A couple of the other issues include the ethical reasons and the fact that most people won’t approve any use of public money to destroy human embryos in any type of medical research. The ethical reasons include issues such as, embryos are humans from the day they are conceived, people think if we mess with human life in this manner, then we are in a sense trying to play God, and people also think we shouldn’t mess with human lives.
In conclusion, if we are to use a human life to save a human life, we really aren’t saving anyone. We are essentially playing God because bringing someone back who was knocking on heaven’s door is not something a human should do.