James Thomson and his research team at the University of Wisconsin cultured human embryonic stem cells from spare embryos which had been donated from IVF with consent from the couples.
The umbilical chord carries a large source of pluripotent cells. If the blood from the umbilical chord and placenta was frozen and stored then those stem cells would be available throughout the child’s life to help them or their family if they needed treatment. However it costs a lot of money to store the blood and also a lot of storage is needed too.
Adult stem cells do not have undifferentiated specialised cells, but they have cells that can differentiate when needed to produce any of the major cell types found in a particular organ or tissue. Adult stem cells are hard to grow in a lab because they are multipotent. A number of experiments have suggested that certain adult stem cell types are pluripotent meaning they can form most of the cells in the body.
Therapeutic cloning is an experimental technique that produces healthy tissue; the aim is to treat diseases caused by faulty cells e.g. type 1 diabetes or Alzheimer’s. First they produce healthy cloned cells by removing the nucleus from their normal body cells and putting it into a human ovum that has had its own nucleus removed. Next they give a mild electric shock so the new cell starts to develop this produces a collection of new embryonic cells with the same genetic information as the person the normal body cell has come from. Stem cells will be harvested from the embryo which then gets destroyed. Large numbers of cells are needed for stem cell replacement therapies. An advantage of using stem cells from an adult is that the patient's own cells could be grown in culture and then reintroduced. The use of the patient's own adult stem cells would mean that the cells would not be rejected by the immune system and would continue to grow naturally. There is some evidence that people given stem cell bone marrow transplants for leukaemia are at higher risk of later developing other cancers.
There are many different ethical considerations surrounding embryo and stem cell research. Many questions are put forward on this subject such as, is research on human embryos justifiable? In the mid-1980s, the Warnock Committee took evidence representing a wide range of views on the status of the early embryo. The Warnock Committee took a view between these two positions, regarding the early human embryo as having a special status, but not one warranting the same level of protection afforded to a fully developed human. The House of Lords Stem Cell Research Committee weighed the ethical arguments carefully in its recent report. While respecting the views of those who regard any research involving the destruction of a human embryo as wrong, it concluded that in light of the current law and social attitudes, it was “not persuaded that all research on early human embryos should be prohibited”.
The Lords Stem Cell Research Committee noted that it seems to have been widely accepted in practice, and recommended that 14 days “should remain the limit for research on early embryos”.
The House of Lords Committee on Stem Cell Research considered this issue, deciding that it was preferable to use ‘spare’ IVF embryos for research (which would otherwise be destroyed) than to create embryos (which would have no prospect of being implanted) specifically for research. It took the view that “embryos should not be created specifically for research purposes unless there is a demonstrable and exceptional need which cannot be met by the use of surplus embryos”.
I think that in the future stem cells will be used to cure diseases such as cancer, leukaemia and others that have not yet had a cure found. Although there are many issues surrounding stem cell research I think it’s a good thing, because by the continuation of research into the uses of stem cells will allow progression in helping to find new discoveries for medicines and general scientific research. I don’t agree with destroying the embryos because I believe everything has the right to a life and by destroying the embryo it is taking that chance of a life away.
884 Words
Bibliography
Edexcel Biology text book
