Essay - Stem Cell Research the Controversy Surrounding Stem Cell Research and...

Stem cell research

The controversy surrounding stem cell research and cloning has caused a great amount of debate ***** concern throughout the world. Stem *****s research offers ***** possibility of renewing body parts and curing life-threatening ***** debilitating ailments such as Parkinson's disease.

***** the same time it also raises many issues that extend well beyond the technical and medical advantages. In essence, and as part the larger reacted ***** about ***** human cloning, stem cell ***** is a problem that confronts human society on many levels - including religious, ethical, psychological ***** sociological areas.

***** of the most serious assertions against stem ***** research and cloning in general is that ***** threatens ***** d*****ruption and even the destruction of human institutions such as the family ***** parenting. On another related level, cloning is sometimes viewed ***** a thre*****t to ***** perceptions and challenges the very meaning of what it ***** to be a human being. Stem cell research therefore presents two main areas for debate. The first is the medical argument that ***** holds the real possibility of curing ***** diseases and ailments. On the o*****r hand as ***** of the larger cloning ***** it ***** numerous ethical, moral and social questions.

The possibilities inherent in stem cell research have excited the scientific and medical community with regard to cloning technology is the possibility of engineering ***** parts from cloned cells. Geneticists and biologists have realized the ***** ***** medical potential ***** embryo cloning. Briefly Stem cells are *****, primal, undifferentiated ***** which ***** the unique potential to produce any kind of cell in ***** body. Medical *****ers believe stem cells have the ***** to change ***** face of human disease by being used ***** repair specific t***** or to grow *****gans."

Wikipedia: Stem cell)

Embryonic stem *****s or ES cells are found in ********** and have the facility to develop into various other *****s of *****. Embryo cells offer the possibility of overcoming ***** rejection of new body parts by the host's immune sy*****. This means that ***** parts can be grown that are compatible ***** the human host. In more technical terms stem cells ***** important characteristics that distinguish them from other types ***** cells. First, they ***** "...***** ***** that renew themselves for long periods through cell division." Secondly under certain conditions "...***** can be induced to become cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin*****producing cells ***** the pancreas." (Stem Cell basics)

***** medical interest in ***** cell research is due to the hope ***** it offers to sufferers of ***** like ***** disease. Parkinson's disease is a "...***** common neurodegenerative dis*****der that affects more than 2% of ***** population over 65 years of age. (Stem ***** basics) There are ***** promising facts ***** support the idea that stem cell ***** can be beneficial in the treatment of this disease amongst others. This *****cludes that fact that DA neurons, a certain cell type, have been re*****d *****