Arguments Against Stem Cell Research

What are stem cells? What good or bad opinions do people have of them? How can they be used to help people get better, and how are they currently being used? While there are good and bad things about stem cells, many things about stem cells need to be understood first. There are many properties of stem cells that no other type of cell has. One property that stem cells have is that they can renew themselves for long periods of time (Stem-5). This means that they create a large population of stem cells whereas cells like muscle and heart cells can not do that normally (Stem-5). Also, if the daughter stem cells stay unspecialized, which means to not become a definite type of cell, like a skin or stomach cell, for long enough after the parent cell divided, “the cells are said to be capable of long-term self-renewal”(Stem-5). The next unique property of stem cells is that they can become any type of cell in the body (Stem-5). The last unique property of all stem cells is that they can make themselves specialized (Stem-5). Through differentiation, stem cells can become other cells, like blood and heart cells, and do their work (Stem-5). Differentiation …show more content…
One argument against stem cell research is that the development of the fertilized egg to a baby is a continuous process that should not be stopped, and that the moment the egg is fertilized, the egg should be considered a human (Embryonic). A second argument against stem cell research is that the people who are for stem cell research, are making ridiculous decisions about human life based off of age, and that if we would consider having a nervous system is what makes a person, and someone loses their nerve cells, would not be considered less human (Embryonic). The final argument against stem cell research is that if someone stops the process of the fertilized egg becoming an embryo, then we are stopping the egg from becoming a human