An Argument in Favor of Using Stem Cells in Research to Treat Diseases

Stem Cells

I believe that the use of stem cells to treat various diseases and health problems is perfectly acceptable, but using them for cloning is not. I know that stem cells can be very helpful when treating various types of cancer. This past year my aunt had multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, in which the doctors harvested her stem cells from her bone marrow and treated them to some how counter attack the myeloma. She is doing much healthier and hasn't had any complications with the treatment. I have seen it work and am for the use of stem cells.

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While reading through the articles and watching the videos I have learned a bit more about the use of stem cells. The first is that they can be created in more ways than what I had previously thought. I knew that they somehow came from a human embryo, but I didn't know how that procedure worked. They take the DNA from an unfertilized egg and replace it with a set of DNA from an existing adult cell. It then grows and forms a blastocyst with embryonic stem cells inside. I found out that they can be created by inserting some special genes into a cell that help revert a adult cell back into stem cell, called a induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC). This is a great way to use stem cells without the expensive cost of harvesting them from bone marrow, or the without the controversy of using embryonic stem cells.

Another thing that I learned from the sources was that using stem cells is an excellent way to reduce the chance of rejection from the body. The body is extremely unlikely to reject the stem cells, because they carry the exact same DNA as the other cells in your body. With the use of transplants, the body always has the chance of rejecting the transplant because it views it as a foreign object that is not meant to be there, and it destroys it. By using stem cells, there is a minimal risk of rejection.

In conclusion, my opinion about the use of stem cells has not changed, but much rather it has been strengthened. Stem cells are a superior way to treat many potentially fatal diseases, such as Diabetes or Alzheimer's. They can be treated and used in a way to completely cure the patient with hardly any risk of rejection. I feel that more emphasis should be put on the perfection of iPSC's, because they provide a less controversial use of stem cells. I support the use of stem cells.

Works Cited

1. Hochedlinger, K. (2010). Your Inner Healers. Scientific American. Kim, K., & Lensch, W. (2005, April 1). The Cloning Process. Retrieved from NOVA scienceNOW:
2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/cloning-process.html Stem Cells Breakthrough. (2008, July 23). Retrieved from NOVA
3. scienceNOW: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/stem-cells-breakthrough.html
4. Stem Cells: Early Research. (2005, April 19). Retrieved from NOVA scienceNOW: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/stem-cells-research.html

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