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Ashlynne Drew
Sean M. George
English1010D.03
11 December 2015
Saving Lives One Cell at a Time
Imagine how many lives could be saved by simply using the method of stem cell research.
According to the Center for Disease Control, 5.1 million Americans have heart failure, and
670,000 are diagnosed with it annually (Watson and Freudenrich). With that being said, in the
process of heart failure, much of the heart muscle dies itself, resulting in the heart not being able
to sufficiently pump blood (CDC). Another study from National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Disease states, that about 29.1 million Americans have diabetes and of
those people five to 10 percent of them have type one diabetes which results in the insulinproducing cells of the pancreas to die. Also, about 10 million people worldwide live with
Parkinsons disease. With this disease the neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps with
movement control, is dead (PDF). The question is, what if these dead cells could be replaced
with fresh cells? That is the main goal of stem cell research and it should be allowed and
encouraged to help save lives one cell at a time.
Some of you may ask, what is a stem cell? Stem cells are the building blocks of the
human body and can become one of the 220 cells in the body (Watson and Freudenrich). The
earliest of the stem cells would be those of a human embryo, and from that, the cell will develop
to every cell, tissue and organ in the body. Another thing about stem cells is that they can renew
themselves over and over (Watson and Freudenrich). Adult stem cells are next, and those are
referred to as built in repair kits which means they help regenerate cells that have been

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damaged. They repair the differentiated cells. By cells called the hemopoietic stem cells (also an
adult cell), they separate into a variety of blood cells in the red bone marrow and keep
reproducing and rebuilding cells (Watson and Freudenrich).
According to Watson and Freudenrich, there are more than just embryonic and adult stem
cells. They are called Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs), which share the characteristics of
both the adult and embryonic stem cells and share the same genes and markers, which for ethical
and political reasons it may work better than the embryonic cells (Watson and Freudenrich).
Now knowing the background of what stem cells are and the functions they have, here
are a few facts on how stem cells can help treat diseases. By allowing the research of stem cells,
scientists will eventually be able to treat and cure diseases within the body. They first need to test
the stem cell lines with other cells in the body. By doing this they can test and put new drugs out
that will save plenty of time and money (Watson and Freudenrich). Also, studying stem cells and
the wonders they can do will help scientists better understand the occurrence of birth defects and
eventually how to treat them (Watson and Freudenrich). This is why people all over the globe
defend and support the research of stem cells.
Obviously there is going to be controversy over this subject, such as those who feel that
stem cell research is unethical and against moral values. Robert P. George claims that a human
embryo is a whole living member and that stem cell research is destroying potential lives.
Whether it is fertilization or cloning of an embryo stem cell, it is still a complete and distinct
human that poses all of the genetic material to grow. The main conflict to this is deciding when
life begins. Which has evolved into a political issue. In 1996, the Dickey-Wicker amendment
was passed which banned any research in which a human embryo is created or destroyed. The
Federal monies (funding for stem cell research) was then cut off, but, years later, in 2009,

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President Obama issued an executive order to remove barriers of the act and allowed the research
of stem cells to be continued (Watson and Freudenrich).
The article Sourcing human embryos for embryonic stem cell lines: Problems &
Perspectives written by Rajvi H. Mahta, states:
The ability to successfully derive human embryonic stem cells lines from human
embryos following in vitro fertilization opened up a plethora of potential applications of
this technique. These cell lines could have been successfully used to increase our
understanding of human developmental biology, transplantation medicine and the
emerging science of regenerative medicine.
In 2007, the Department of Biotechnology, and the Indian Council of Medical Research
approved to have research derivation of human embryonic stem cell lines for a few reasons. One
reason is to develop methods to detect abnormalities in embryos before implantation. Another
reason is to increase knowledge about causation of serious diseases and their treatment, including
tissue therapies. The only hope for some couples who may have a hard time conceiving children,
is to go through with in vitro fertilization, in vitro meaning having the cells be elsewhere outside
a living organism. People may see this as unethical, when in fact, they have a system of
preserving the cells not used which is a process called cryopreserved spare embryos. In this
process they save the leftover embryonic stem cells and freeze then keeping them for when they
could come in hand.
Cedric Blanpain, a researcher of the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research and an
investigator of the Walloon Excellence in Life Science and Biotechnology states:
There is no doubt that induced Pluripotent stem cell (iPS) technology will further
improve and will be widely used for research, disease modelling and therapies. The

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challenge now is to better define the epigenetic landscapes of human pluripotent cells and
subsequently improve the reprogramming methods, so that iPS cells almost exactly
resemble the naive state of human embryonic stem cells. Once this goal is achieved, it is
very likely that iPS cells will replace human embryonic stem cells for most applications.
It is clear that science is working towards bettering their research so that they can do more good
than harm when it comes to the research of stem cells. With that being said, stem cell research is
completely ethical and is being used to better understand how to help the world for the better.
In conclusion, the study of stem cells is the next step to a better and more efficient future.
Once scientists figure out how to get the cells to do what they need to do in order to function
correctly in the body, it will help so many people and help prevent or even cure diseases such as
Parkinsons and also find a way to cure birth defects. Weighing the pros and cons of this subject,
it is obvious that there are more pros to stem cell research than cons. One day, stem cell research
will be the reason why the rates of all the diseases go down and the quality of life goes up.

Works Cited
Blanpain, Cdric, et al. "Stem Cells Assessed." Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 13.7
(2012): 471-476. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
Diabetes. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. National Institutes
of Health. n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

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Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nov. 2015. Web. 30 Nov.
2015.
George, Robert.A Distinct Human Organism. Nevada Public Radio. Nov 2005. Web. 30 Nov.
2015.
Mehta, Rajvi H. "Sourcing Human Embryos For Embryonic Stem Cell Lines: Problems &
Perspectives." Indian Journal Of Medical Research 140.(2014): 106-111. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Statistics on Parkinsons. Parkinsons Disease Foundation. Parkinsons Disease Foundation.
n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Watson, Stephanie, and Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.. "How Stem Cells Work" Embryonic Stem
Cells. HowStuffWorks, Nov 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.