Stem Cell Research: Controversy Around The World

Stem cell research has created controversy around the world. A stem cell is a cell that has not yet been specialized and can grow into any type of cell (Science dictionary). There are two main types of stem cells, embryonic which comes from human embryos and non-embryonic which is adult stem cells. This relates to the novel Unwind because in the novel they take children’s body parts and give other people the parts. The children do not have a choice to be unwound, it is up to the parents, they are in the teen years of their life. Stem cell research has helped advance medical research over the years, but some people believe it is unethical. Some people think using embryonic stem cells is fine, but there are other methods to obtain stem …show more content…
There is much debate for when human life begins. There are groups that think a human life does not begin until a baby is born and there are people that think a life starts as soon as the egg is fertilized, many are somewhere in between. An embryo is in the earliest stages in development that has not been born yet. Scientist have been using embryonic stem cells for research, which is using a human embryo. This is how it gets controversial because “If you use embryonic stem cells you are taking a human life”(Euro stem cell). People believe that using these stem cells for research is still unethical because the child cannot decide to live or not. Some religious groups like Christians and Catholics believe it is murder to the embryo because life starts at conception (explorestemcells.co.uk). In Unwind some people would not take transplants because they did not like the unwind process. This relates to the stem cell research because when people receive parts from and unwind it is similar to receiving medical treatment from embryos. Using embryonic stem cell for research is questionably unethical depending on one’s …show more content…
There is adult, and umbilical cord stem cells (Ramachandran). Adult stem cells can come from: bone marrow, brain, blood vessels, skin, teeth, heart, gut and liver. (Ramachandran) Umbilical cord stem cells comes from the umbilical cord blood. These are better options then embryonic because one does not have to sacrifice anyone for the help of someone else. Recently scientists have developed induced pluripotent stem cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells are specialized adult stem cells that are genetically reprogramed to act like an embryonic stem cell (National Institutes of Health). Adult stem cells have been successfully used in treatments such as spinal cord injury, stroke, liver cirrhosis, and heart disease (Murnaghan). “The uses of adult stem cells are morally ethical, but it is unethical to used embryonic stem cells since it involves the destruction of the embryos” (Ramachandran). The ethical dilemma could be solved by only using adult stem cells. Unlike in the book Unwind where they only use one way to get body parts. Instead of unwinding teenagers they should use their expertise to find a different way to obtain organs. With research that scientists have done they have discovered different ways to obtain stem cells to solve the moral dilemma of using embryonic stem