Paper

Summary

Stem cells are primitive cells that are the basis of other types of cells.

There are several types of stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are what raise an ethical dilemma. If the embryo is in fact inanimate matter, then the resistance to embryonic stem cell research is ludicrous. Conversely, if the embryo is alive, then embryonic stem cell research is immoral. The alternative is adult stem cell research (which doesn't involve ethical concerns). Ignoring ethics, adult stem cell research is advantageous to stem cell research.

We know there is a major ethical dilemma pertaining to embryonic stem cell research. The history of stem cell research had a benign, embryonic beginning in the mid 1800's with the discovery that some cells could generate other cells. Now stem cell research is embroiled in a controversy over the use of human embryonic stem cells for research. In the early 1900's the first real stem cells were discovered when it was found that some cells generate blood cells.

The history of stem cell research includes work with both animal and human stem cells. Totipotent stem cells are found only in early embryos. Pluripotent stem cells exist in the undifferentiated inner cell mass of the blastocyst and can form any of the over 200 different cell types found in the body. Multipotent stem cells are derived from fetal tissue, cord blood, and adult stem cells.

A prominent application of stem cell research has been bone marrow transplants using adult stem cells. Adult stem cells also have shown great promise in other areas. These cells have shown the potential to form many different kinds of cell types and tissues, including functional hepatocyte-like (liver) cells.

In 1998, James Thompson (University of Wisconsin - Madison) isolated cells from the inner cell mass of early embryos, and developed the first embryonic stem cell lines. In the same year, John Gearhart (Johns Hopkins University) derived germ cells from cells in fetal gonadal...