Embryonic Stem Cells Essay

Stem Cells To start off, a stem cell is an undifferentiated cell of a multicellular organism that has the ability to assist other cells of the same type. They come from developed organs and tissues in the human body. You may think of a stem cell as a “blank” cell because it has not decided what it wants to be. It might become a skin cell, heart muscle, nerve cell, bone cell, etc. The use of stem cells is a controversial topic. You can view the use of stem cells through different points of views such as a medical ethicist, a religious leader, a politician, and or a quadriplegic. This will all be from a medical ethicists point of view on how they believe stem cells should or should not be used. There are different types of stem cells that are categorized in different ways. They are differentiated by their ability for self-renewal. The two main types of stem cells you may hear about are embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Other types that are not as common, such as …show more content…
There is a recommended cut off point of after 14 days after fertilization. Before day 14, the embryo the embryo has no central nervous system and therefore no senses. If we can take organs from patients who have been declared brain dead and use them for transplants, then we can also use hundred-cell embryos that have no nervous system (EuroStemCell) .
The embryo has increasing status as it develops (EuroStemCell). Whatever moral status the human embryo has for us, the life that it lives has a value to the embryo itself (EuroStemCell). If we are not sure whether a fertilized egg should be considered a human being, then we should not destroy it. A hunter does not shoot if he is not sure whether his target is a deer or a man (EuroStemCell). With that said, doctors must take into consideration with what the recommended restrictions are for when an embryonic stem cell should and should not be