Every day in the field of science is a new day filled with new discoveries. Along with these discoveries we are slowly being able to better understand the world around us and make cures for the incurable along the way. Within the past couple of decades, science has advanced so fast that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with all the changes and to be able to accept them as reality. However, when there are new scientific discoveries there are often debates on its reliability and whether or not it’s ethical to use such means, but usually is accepted within a decade or two. The use of stem cells, however, has been a topic of debate since the 1970s and shows no sign of ending just yet. Even so, research in this field has continued and has shown that
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For generations The United States has been the leader of not only the free world but for the medical world as well as it has the top of the line research facilities. Not only does being number one in a field brings bragging rights to a country and shows superiority but also helps build an economy. By cutting funds of these potentially life-saving programs it destroys scientist careers and forces the citizens and the nation as a whole to rely on other countries’ work, giving the opposing country the edge of the less advanced country. As stated in the Congressional Digest, “Federal research money is needed to keep the United States at the forefront of this new medical frontier and to compete with scientists in Britain and other countries working under much less restrictive systems.” As it already stands, the United States has been put to a disadvantage compared to other countries as we have different moral standards which require stricter regulations. To add to this program, right when the stem cell research really started to pick up, in 1995 stem cell research on human embryos was banned and the use of adult stem cells wasn’t truly utilized until around 2006. Possibly seeing the error of his legislation, at the end of the term President Clinton “ruled that scientists could conduct federally funded research on embryonic stem cell lines as long as the scientists did not participate in the destruction of the embryos.” (Congressional Digest). However, these rules were never put into place. It wouldn’t be until August 2001 when President Bush announced the four conditions that must be met in order to receive government funding. The conditions were that “. . . research be performed only on existing cell lines, that cells be taken from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes; that the
For generations The United States has been the leader of not only the free world but for the medical world as well as it has the top of the line research facilities. Not only does being number one in a field brings bragging rights to a country and shows superiority but also helps build an economy. By cutting funds of these potentially life-saving programs it destroys scientist careers and forces the citizens and the nation as a whole to rely on other countries’ work, giving the opposing country the edge of the less advanced country. As stated in the Congressional Digest, “Federal research money is needed to keep the United States at the forefront of this new medical frontier and to compete with scientists in Britain and other countries working under much less restrictive systems.” As it already stands, the United States has been put to a disadvantage compared to other countries as we have different moral standards which require stricter regulations. To add to this program, right when the stem cell research really started to pick up, in 1995 stem cell research on human embryos was banned and the use of adult stem cells wasn’t truly utilized until around 2006. Possibly seeing the error of his legislation, at the end of the term President Clinton “ruled that scientists could conduct federally funded research on embryonic stem cell lines as long as the scientists did not participate in the destruction of the embryos.” (Congressional Digest). However, these rules were never put into place. It wouldn’t be until August 2001 when President Bush announced the four conditions that must be met in order to receive government funding. The conditions were that “. . . research be performed only on existing cell lines, that cells be taken from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes; that the