Stem Cell Legislation

Course Project: Stem Cell Legislation

Nicholas Fite

9 June 2012

Course Project: Stem Cell Legislation

The controversial topic of stem cell research, and use, has been in this country since the first discovery of the potential benefits by Ernest McCulloch and James Till in the 1960’s. As defined by the National Institutes for Health (NIH), stem cells have the potential to divide and grow in a cultured dish and generate into other specialized cells. This research is being conducted to potentially find cures for debilitating diseases like cancer, and AIDS/HIV, or to even grow healthy muscle flesh in hearts, which is a promising cure for heart disease. Within some communities, especially those that are affected by such diseases, this is an important sign that these applications and more can be implemented to save lives.

Stem cells are remarkable and have three basic characteristics: “1) they are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods; 2) they are unspecialized; and 3) they can give rise to specialized cell types.” (NIH, 2009) These stem cells are considered unspecialized at first until they can attach and have a more specialized function. For example when a cell divides and regenerates the “new” cell attaches to the heart or lung creating new tissue growth. Scientists work mostly with embryonic stem cells and also with “somatic”, or adult stem cells. Most recently they have used human embryonic stem cells derived from in-vitro fertilization (IVF), which come in large part from donations from clinics that no longer have a use for the IVF cultures.

Research of stem cells and the federal funding of it have been in and out of legislation for many years. In “1974 congress banned federal funds to be used in fetal tissue research” in 1993 president Clinton allows for the NIH to fund the human embryo research projects by using in-vitro fertilization (IVF) but due to public scrutiny Clinton reverses his decision. In addition to the reversal of...