Stem Cells

Using Stem Cells to Grow Human Organs

Jettie McGraw

English II- Maria Mahon

May 2, 2014

What is organ donation and why is there so much controversy surrounding it? “Organ donation takes healthy organs and tissue from one person for transplantation into another” (U.S library of Medicine, 2014).The controversy behind organ donation is the simple fact that there is currently “122,267 people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Each day 18 of those people will die waiting. All it takes is one donor to save up to 8 lives” (HRSA, n.d, p.1). With the number of people waiting on the organ transplant list increasing daily, the problem arises when there is a lack of organs available, and a lack of donations. We all have loved ones, what if our loved one was waiting for a transplant? What if they died waiting? Every 10 minutes someone else is added to the waitlist, and each day 18 people waiting will die. This is a statistic that is worrisome to many, yet no solution has been given to comfort those waiting, or the families of those deceased. This is a problem that needs to be addressed and solved. Solving this issue that has been on the rise since the 1900’s is not going to be easy, it is going to take a lot of work, courage, and determination from those waiting, those donating, and the scientist that are working tirelessly to come up with a solution. Currently there are the following on the national organ transplant list: “69.3% are waiting for a kidney, 74.9% are waiting for a heart, 73.8 % are waiting for a liver, and 54.4 % are waiting for a lung transplant” (HRSA, n.d, p.1). Knowing these statistics should increase ones urge to find a way to increase organs that can be readily available, after all it is supply and demand. Knowing these statistics should give one an idea of what science and medicine can have the power to change.

Solving this problem has one easy solution, stem cells and embryonic cells. Stem cells have been the root of much...