Stem Cells: the Human Race’s Next Breakthrough in Science or Not?

Stem Cells: The Human Race’s Next Breakthrough In Science Or Not?

One of the most popular clinical studies being examined today is stem cell transplantation. Lately, ethical issues of countries and states have not allowed this type of research to expand into the unknowns. Within the last ten years, scientists have made progress in finding out more unknown facts that stem cell research has to offer. The Secretary of Health Services, Mr. Tommy G. Thompson stated that he, "...believes it will open up a world of good fortune for many scientists, not only at the NIH (National Institutes Of Health), but in other places, because this research also shows a unified atmosphere among academia, the private sector, and the government that will allow us to move ahead." New recent ways of administering stem cell research have made the healing and repairing treatment for many different uses.

In general, stem cells are cells from which all else “stems.” Alexander Capron, a Bioethicist from the World Health Organization stated that a stem cell is, “the foundation of organisms, the stalk from which everything buds and branches.” These cells come from three potential sources: embryonic cells, certain somatic (adult) tissues/cells, or umbilical cord blood. Embryonic stem cells are cells that are found early (preferably less than two weeks) in the development of an embryo that can produce a fetus and ultimately a child. Somatic (Adult) Tissues/Cells are a number of stem cells that can multiply when needed to repair adult tissue and organs, and they are found in the human body and in umbilical cord blood (cord blood cell). Cord blood cells from umbilical cord blood are stem cells that are isolated from the blood in the umbilical cord from a newborn. And even though all these cell types: embryonic, somatic (adult), and cord blood are different they are said to all perform one specific role in the human body that all stem cells carry out.

The role that stem cells play in the human...