Have you ever had to make a choice which would almost surely dissatisfy some people? Almost all of us would have had faced such a situation. It is never easy to try to decide on something, knowing that you are going to displease people. However, it is a part of life that we cannot run away from. Such a situation is exactly what the whole world is now in. The issue at hand too is no small matter; it is embryonic stem cell research. With the case of the fraudulent research papers of the South Korean scientist, Hwang Woo Suk, this scientific research area has been dragged into the limelight for the wrong reasons. It has blemished all the scientists persevering in helping humankind find a cure to the incurable diseases of today. More importantly, it has further fuelled the debate on whether embryonic stem cell research is beneficial or not.
Firstly, we must understand that stem cells are actually undifferentiated cells that can be turned into nearly any kind of cell. An embryonic stem cell is just such a stem cell obtained form an embryo, which is a cluster of cells that have not yet formed into a foetus. This research area actually holds a lot of promise as it is not a short-term cure. For example, if a liver stem cell is inserted into a damaged liver, it can replace the damaged stem cells, and these cells will remain as part of the liver. In this manner, many diseases and injuries that are fatal today could be cured.
Now, people against pursuing research in this field might argue that it involves using embryos that could have been in the uterus of a woman and have developed into healthy children. However, what about looking at this issue in the perspective of the people who suffer from currently incurable diseases and their loved ones? Would it not be depriving these people of a possible cure and an end to their misery? Stopping research in this field would mean a definite end to the afflicted people’s lives. In other words, we would be depriving them of their lives. Would this be justifiable? Moreover, embryos are a cluster of cells that have not yet become a foetus. If it is being argued that foetuses are humans or not, how can embryos be considered human? The embryo's cells are just like other cells, like plant cells, that have been studied and manipulated with. If these plant cells can be used for such research, why not embryos? Even plants are living things that experience pain, affection (proven by Jagdish Chandra Bose, an Indian scientist), so if they can be used for such research, why not human embryos?
Helping the people afflicted by currently incurable diseases by furthering research in embryonic stem cell research to find a cure to their problems would also be a good deed. It would be helping them. Based on one’s morals and principles, this would mean that research should be pursued in this research field. Why should we refrain from doing a good deed then? Therefore, we should pursue this area of research.
However, there is a possible solution to this debate: adult stem cells. Embryonic stem cells run the risk of being rejected by the recipient. Since a human embryo has a complete set of chromosomes, it also has a full set of antigens and immune markers. If the tissue type of the human embryo, form which the stem cell is extracted from, is different from the recipient, there is a risk of the stem cell being rejected by the recipient’s body. This would mean that immunosuppression drugs have to be administered. These drugs might have unwanted side effects, so it would be better to minimise their use. This is where adult stem cells come into the picture. Since adult stem cells that are used come from the person himself or herself, the risk of them getting rejected is practically zero. Moreover, with new procedures in this field being developed to cure diseases like lymphoma, it would be a viable and good solution to pump more money into this less advertised but promising field of research.
We can clearly see that emryonic stem cell research is the way to go, especially since it is also a good deed to those afflicted with currently incurable diseases as it could provide potential cures. Moreover, with the less glamorous field of adult stem cell research as a possible good compromise, I strongly feel that we should give stem cell research our thumbs up.