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Stem Cell Research: For Better or for Worse? Essay examples

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For as long as humans exist, optimal health continues to remain vital for a productive life. As new medical discoveries increase through generations, humans become healthier, therefore, their life expectancy rises. Stem cell research, a relatively new field, investigates to improve and lengthen human life. The possibility of stem cells to develop prospering health makes them beneficial to the human race. Why do stem cell debates create such a large uproar? Stem cells posses the potential to arise into hundreds of different cells in the body- for this reason stem cells are also referred to as undifferentiated cells. Stem cells’ value also comes from their ability to “replicate many times, or proliferate” (“Stem Cell Basics” 1). …show more content…

Although embryonic stem cells contain abilities to enrich human health, a less controversial source of stem cells remains- adult stem cells. Collecting adult stem cells takes place in numerous locations of the body such as: bone marrow, muscle, the brain, umbilical cords, and adipose tissue (Guinan 308). Goldstein documents of experimental findings how human brain stem cells “can achieve ninety to ninety-five perfect purity in combination with several previous steps” (207). However, scientists remained uncertain about the functionality of adult stem cells because they “typically generate the cell types of the tissues in which they reside” (“Stem Cell Basics” 1), but in 2006 a Kyoto University team discovered the ability to engineer adult stem cells into pluripotent stem cells (“New Method” 4). Recent technology allows scientists to “directly covert somatic cells to pluripotent cells regardless of availability of embryonic cells” (Han 278). This technology may foster the growth of stem cell research because it removes the challenge of accessing to pluripotent cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells potential to “promote patient specific and disease specific drug development” (Manohar 1) makes them even more constructive than embryonic stem cells when considering rejection by the host. Induced pluripotent stem cells attain the same flexibility as embryonic

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