Topic: Medicine & Technology
There have been a lot of talks about stem cells lately. What are they? They are master cells that grow into any type of bodily tissue. Industry analysts say that cells taken from human embryos are uniquely versatile. They could lead to new treatments of Alzheimer’s, type 1 diabetes, spinal cord injuries and other diseases. So a lot of scientists have been trying to showcase the benefits and treatments that could derive from stem cells. Through therapeutic cloning, stem cells could be manipulated to form different types of tissues. They could be transplanted into suffering patients whose immune system will not reject them.
Now stem cells can also be extracted from uncloned human embryos. They are mostly the results or by-products of fertility treatment. When an infertile woman undergoes various fertility procedures, sometimes, the reproductive specialists will try to collect various eggs from the woman. The idea is to try to have more fertilization. No wonder that dealing with human embryos leads to the rise of opponents and advocates of the practice. Advocates say that stem cells could lead to disease treatments. Opponents do not buy this view. They state that human embryos are destroyed. What many researchers and TV programs such as 60 Minutes have shown is that these embryos may end up being discarded as biohazards since there is no regulation to deal with them effectively. What is clear is that these scientists can not expect to receive funding from the federal government for research on stem cells developed after August 2001.
Read the rest of this article at Fertility Gold: Stem Cell Research Funding Debate
