This document discusses stem cells, including what they are, their potential advantages and disadvantages, and related ethical and economic issues. Stem cells can become any cell type and may help cure diseases, but their use also raises ethical concerns about destroying embryos and economic issues around funding research that has not produced many cures. The document examines both sides of these issues and cites sources to support the discussion.

1. Rhea Singh<br />Stem Cells<br />One World Essay<br />Stem cells are cells that could become any cell in your body, and therefore, are used to help cure diseases. Stem cells are an undifferentiated cell of a multi-cellular organism that can rise to unlimited cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiating. Cells of embryos and of the umbilical cord contain stem cells, and unlike adult stem cells, they can specialize into any cell. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of stem cells? How is stem cell research connected with ethical issues and economical issues? These are questions that I will be answering in this essay. This essay will support the fact that using embryos for stem cells is not the most efficient way for experimenting, but it can also be very useful to people who need to get cured, and how all that is related to ethical and economical issues. <br />Although stem cell research has not been perfected yet, there are some benefits to it. Like stem cells provide a really high potential for discovering treatments and cures to cancer, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, etc. Stem cells can also allow limbs and organs to grow in a lab and then they can be used in transplants or help treat illnesses. Another benefit of stem cells is that they can be used for testing many different drugs and medicines on, without the use of animals or human testers. This could help us tell if the drug is useful or has any problems with it. Therefore, stem cells can be very useful to human beings when used appropriately. <br />As I said earlier on, stem cell research has not been perfected yet, which means that there are some downsides to them too. Like stem cells, like much other new technology, is still not fully known to us. This means that we still do not know the long-term effects that it might have in store for us. Also, adult stem cells are pre-specialized, for example blood stem cells make only blood cells, and brain stem cells make only brain cells. Another downside is that embryonic stem cells are mostly obtained from embryos that are not a patient’s own and the patient’s body may reject them. Stem cells like many other cures, have there own downsides, and people should keep that in mind while using them. <br />Stem cells have become a big ethical issue these days. Some people think that embryonic stem cells shouldn’t be used because they have the potential to create another human being. Saving more that one person’s life is better than saving only one persons life, but destroying the embryos before it is even born isn’t a very good reason as to why they should do that. Others think that they should use embryonic stem cells to help cure people. This is because they think saving more than one persons life is better than saving only one persons life. Embryonic stem cell research offers both great promise and great peril (President George W. Bush, Aug. 9, 2001). <br />There is also quite a lot of evidence that supports why stem cells are such a big ethical issue. Using human embryos for research purposes can lead to it being destroyed, discarded, or it can have a risk of injury or death. This is evidence supporting why stem cells are becoming ethical issues. Another evidence is that using human embryos relies on the destruction of some poor, little human being that has no defense for him/herself for the possible benefit of others. Using human embryos for stem cell research can affect many lives and therefore have a lot to do with ethics of the world.<br />Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 1: This is how stem cells look like when clearly seen, and this is how they take them out (Millhiser, 2010).0126365Stem cells also have become an economical issue. This is because stem cell research is using lots of money to try to figure out solutions and cures, but it isn’t working all so well, so all that money is not being used very effectively. Some places have been using a lot of money and even though not all that money goes to a complete waste, they haven’t come up with very productive cures. The picture on your top-left hand side (Figure 1) shows how stem cells look when they are magnified and how scientists normally take them out. With all the equipment they need to do that, the question is should people still believe in investing money for stem cell research?<br />There is also evidence that supports why stem cells are such a big economical issue. In Korea, other scientific communities did not receive the money, because all the money went to Stem Cell research and they said that they would get no investment. Also, in Korea, they put $40 million in stem cell research. $30 million was spent on buildings and equipment, but not much on stem cells research itself. They haven’t been using their money very productively, and this is evidence that supports why stem cell research is being an economical issue. <br />Stem cells are beneficial to people, but they also have there limitations. Beneficial because they can be used to test on drugs or medicine instead of animals, but it can be a limitation because sometimes the body can reject these stem cells. Stem cells have also caused some ethical and economical issues. Ethical because destroying embryos before they were even born wasn’t a very good reason to save another life, and it was also economical because people haven’t been using money very effectively in stem cell research. I think that my topic will tell people about stem cells and some new interesting facts about it. I didn’t know much about stem cells before, but after researching about it, I found out a lot more, so I think that it will affect the other people in that way too. To solve any problems in stem cell research, I think that people could try to find out different ways other than using embryos for stem cells, because that could really reduce some ethical conflicts off their back. <br />Works Cited<br />Millhiser, Ian. quot;
Think Progress » Judge Suspends All Federal Funding of Embryoic Stem Cell Research.quot;
Think Progress » Home Page. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/23/stem-cell-lamberth/>.<br />quot;
Moral Issues in Stem Cell Research | EHow.com.quot;
EHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ehow.com/about_5245173_moral-issues-stem-cell-research.html>.<br />Pillai, By Prabhakar. quot;
Advantages and Disadvantages of Stem Cell Research.quot;
Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-stem-cell-research.html>.<br />quot;
Stem Cell Research : Ethical Issues - PDFCast.org.quot;
Upload PDF Documents - Broadcast - Share. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <http://pdfcast.org/pdf/stem-cell-research-ethical-issues>.<br />quot;
Stem Cell Research Progress Blog: 01/24/06.quot;
NewDrugs.com - New Drugs, Stem Cells, Stem Cell Research and More. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <http://www.newdrugs.com/stemcells/2006_01_24_archive.html>.<br />quot;
Stem Cell Therapies Today.quot;
Learn.Genetics™. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/stemcells/sctoday/index.html>.<br />quot;
What Is a Stem Cell?quot;
Learn.Genetics™. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. <br /><http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/stemcells/scintro/><br />