Stem Cell Research
Stem Cell Research
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Stem Cell Research
Stem cell research is a new frontier in medical science. The current public debate primarily involves embryonic stem cell research. This debate will continue as government, science and society grapple with the ethical and moral questions raised by using human embryos for experimentation. While this topic is complex, it is important for all of us to understand the basic concepts of stem cell research and the potential danger that allowing research on human embryos poses to all of us.
What is a stem cell?
A stem cell is a cell that has the potential to develop into several different types of cells. Each person’s body contains stem cells. Stem cells act as the basic building blocks of life. At conception, embryonic stem cells are the earliest cells from which our body develops. These cells grow into the more than 200 different cell types in the human body. As we grow older, our stem cells mature and continue to play an essential role in sustaining life by replacing cells as they wear out or are destroyed.
What are the sources of stem cells?
There are two basic sources of stem cells--embryonic and adult. Scientists first discovered they could isolate and harvest stem cells from human embryos in 1998. These cells are called pluripotent, meaning they are flexible and undeveloped. The versatility of these cells has led scientists to speculate that embryonic stem cells may be coaxed into becoming any number of cell types, thereby holding great promise for healing the human body—from possible cures for diabetes and heart disease to treatments for burns and spinal cord injuries. However, collecting these cells comes at a great price--a living, human embryo must be destroyed.
Fortunately, destroying embryos is not the only way to obtain stem cells. Scientists are also working with nonembryonic sources, often referred to as adult stem cells. These sources include skin cells, bone marrow, placenta, umbilical cord blood, brain tissue and body fat. Research using these stem cell sources is very promising, even indicating that developed adult stem cells may be as “flexible” as embryonic ones and equally capable of converting into various cell types for healing the body.
It is important to note that patients have benefited from adult stem cells for years and continue to do so. For example, leukemia patients obtain adult stem cells through bone marrow transplants, and cancer patients often receive their own “cleansed” stem cells after chemotherapy. Adult stem cells have a proven track record of helping patients in the healing process. However, to date, there has been no demonstrated benefit to patients from embryonic stem cells. At this time, scientists can only theorize and speculate as to the potential healing power of embryonic stem cells.
More recently, a team of scientists in Norway has succeeded in coaxing one type of adult cell to start behaving like a completely different type of adult cell. Specifically, the scientists made human skin cells behave as if they were nerve cells. The technique, which was published in the May 2002 edition of Nature Biotechnology, would allow replacement cells to be generated that are compatible with a patient’s immune system, without the ethical problems of generating or destroying embryos. Potential uses for this technique include therapies for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and heart disease.
Why is it wrong to destroy embryos for their stem cells?
It is a biological fact—not opinion—that human life begins at conception (or fertilization) when the sperm and egg unite. The human embryo is a stage of life, like adolescence or adulthood. Embryos, whether created through in vitro fertilization or sexual intercourse, are fully human and deserve protection.
What is the legal status of embryonic stem cell research?
Since 1996, Congress has approved an annual provision to the Health and Human Services (HHS) appropriations bill specifically prohibiting federal funding of any “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.” This language is the basis for the ongoing federal ban on funding for research using human embryos. Congress must reauthorize this ban, dubbed the “Dickey Amendment,” each year.
In August 2000, HHS, under President Bill Clinton’s leadership, published new guidelines for research using human embryos. These guidelines create a loophole, which essentially claims that if privately funded scientists destroy the embryos and extract their stem cells, government-funded scientists can conduct experiments with those stem cells without violating the federal ban. On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush announced he would reject the Clinton Administration’s guidelines and only allow federal dollars for research on approximately 60 existing embryonic stem cell lines already created in privately funded laboratories. The president outlined the following four conditions for the use of existing cell lines: the embryos were destroyed and the cell lines were created before the August 9 speech, the embryos were among the “excess” frozen embryos stored in fertility clinics created through in vitro fertilization for reproductive purposes, the parents gave their consent for the embryo to be destroyed, and the parents were not offered any financial incentive in return for donating the embryo.
There is debate over whether or not the Bush policy violates the Dickey Amendment prohibiting the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. Ethical questions are also raised by the use of federal tax dollars for research on existing stem cell lines that required the destruction of human embryos.
Legislation was introduced with broad bipartisan support in the 2002 Alabama legislative regular session that would have prohibited cloning of human beings, but it failed to receive final passage.
How is the private sector involved in embryonic stem cell research?
Privately funded scientists continue to destroy embryos for their stem cells. For example, research at the University of Wisconsin, where the first embryonic cells were harvested and cultured, was privately funded. President Bush’s policy only affects federally funded research.
From “Talking Points on Stem Cell Research,” by Carrie Gordon Earll, Focus on the Family Citizen Link, September 26, 2001, www.family.org; “Reprogramming fibroblasts to express T-cell functions using cell extracts,” by A. M. Hakelien, et al., Nature Biotechnology, vol. 20, May 2002, pp. 460-466; and “Legislature should block human cloning,” by Michael Ciamarra, Birmingham News, March 31, 2002. For additional information, see The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, www.stemcellresearch.org.
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