What Are The Pros And Cons Of Embryonic Stem Cells

Pros: Embryotic stem cells could cure numerous diseases, and provide organs to people on the transplant list. Because of the high demand of organs, innumerable people die waiting for a transplant. If scientist discover how to create organs, lives will be saved. There is research that shows that it could be possible to use the patient’s own cells instead of embryonic stem cells. Cons: There are concerns with obtaining stem cells. Stem cells are acquired from human embryo or fetus, and can cause birth defects, miscarriages, and infertility. Concerns are raised when considering cloning a human embryo for the stem cells. Births of the clones would be difficult to prevent, and they may be used for reproductive intentions. This could lead to genetically
modified humans, or cloning of humans. When cloning an embryo for stem cells, a woman’s eggs are used, and it creates a market for eggs. Retrieving eggs is an extremely dangerous procedure that holds remarkable risks for the woman. Procedures such as this would be costly and therefore out of reach for most people (CGS: Research Cloning Arguments Pro and Con, 2006). There are studies that show promising research on stem cell research and movement disorders.
Damaged neurons in Parkinson’s or Huntington’s patients could possibly be replaced by neurons that come from stem cells (Schurch, B., MD et al., 2003). In a study by Mochizuki et al. studies have shown that transplanting embryonic stem cells into brains of rats with Parkinson’s improved the rat’s neural functions. These rats began making dopaminergic neurons that were from the human embryonic stem cells. Then, they exhibited complete regeneration of behavior and their motor function improved. There were similar studies shown in monkeys with Parkinson’s
(2013). Although there have been successful engraftments, embryonic stem cell and induced pluripotent stem cell grafts have shown to produced teratomas.
There is a possibility to solve this problem by inserting a virus into the stem cells that kills the tumor, but this could have deadly side effects. In both the differentiated and undifferentiated stages, the human embryonic stem cells have low levels of leukocyte antigen class one molecules. This could cause rejections of the organs after transplantation. Researchers discovered that using short-term immune-dampening treatment helps the stem cells survive and reduce the risk of rejection. Although impressive outcomes are expressed in this article, there are concerns of unreliable results, short-term results, and poorly controlled experiments. There is a push for highly-regulated experiments, preforming them in clinical settings, and recording reliable data (Mochizuki et al., 2013). There are advantages and disadvantages to stem cell engineering. It has ethical questions concerning selling eggs, human cloning, and disposing of the genetically modified fetus. Because this treatment will be extremely expensive, most people will not be able to afford it. Not only could stem cell research could save many lives in the future by creating organs, it could change the lives of people with movement
disorders.