Imagine a world without disease, or the need for transplants. Have you ever known someone who needed a new kidney, heart, or liver? How about someone with a rare blood type that desperately needed a transfusion after chemotherapy? These are all issue that could theoretically disappear through the use of stem cells. The pros of stem cell research outweigh the cons.

So what exactly is a stem cell? A stem cell is a very versatile cell that has the remarkable ability to grow into almost any kind of cell that your body would need. Stem cells are able to effectively replace damaged cells in the body. Stem cells function as an internal repair system, dividing and multiplying without limit to replace other cells in the body while it is still alive. When a stem cell divides and replicates, the new cell that has been created has the ability to become another type of cell with a specific function. The new stem cell can also remain as a stem cell. When treating cancer with radiation therapy, more than just cancerous cells are destroyed. Dead cells from the brain, kidneys, lungs, liver and heart could be re-grown with the use of stem cells. It does not matter the type of injury sustained, or the disease that was contracted, stem cells have the ability to replace dead or faulty cells with new fully functioning healthy cells. Stem cells can even be used to effectively clone an organ for transplant.

Stem cell research has the potential to do a lot of good in the medical environment. Since this is the case, why is there so much controversy surrounding the research? The controversy involved in stem cell research has to do with the way in which stem cells are harvested. There are three main methods of extracting stem cells – adult cells, umbilical cord cells and embryonic cells. Adult stem cells are removed from bone marrow. Bone marrow is a rich source of stem cells. The main drawback to bone marrow extraction is the destruction of the bone marrow from utilizing this method. A large benefit to adult stem cells is that they are taken from the patient's body so they are an exact DNA match. An exact match means that the immune system will not reject the stem cells.

The second method of extracting stem cells for medical use and research is through the umbilical cord. Much like bone marrow cells, Umbilical cells maintain a DNA match for the individual they were pulled from. Umbilical cells can also be utilized by the parents of the child, and other relatives. However, the more distant the relation, the greater chance of the body’s immune system rejecting the cells. Much like blood type, cord cells can be matched between donors and patients. For this reason the donation of umbilical stem cells is encouraged.

The third and by far most controversial method of extracting stem cells is to remove them from embryonic cells. Embryonic stem cells are taken from an embryo. What makes the use of embryonic stem cells controversial is that in order to harvest the cells from an embryo, the embryo must be destroyed. Per the National Institutes of Health:

Most embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro—in an in vitro fertilization clinic—and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman's body. (3)

This is controversial to those that are pro-life on the grounds that the embryo, despite being creating and fertilized in a lab, is still a human life. Advocates of this type of research do not believe these to be life at all. They feel that these embryos are entirely to early in development to be misconstrued as a life.

With three different ways of harvesting stem cells and two of those ways being widely accepted, what makes this such a controversial topic? Embryonic stem cells, the most controversial kind, are thought to be the most versatile. Currently they are the only blank stem cell that can truly, without any form of genetic modification, be turned into other forms of cells. Embryonic stem cells are also much easier to grow in culture, while adult stem cells are rare in mature cells and therefore they are much harder to locate and differentiate. This is very important due to the requirement of massive amounts of stem cells to repair or replace damaged cells.

It is very clear that the benefits of stem cell research undeniably outweigh the costs, at least when it comes to adult stem and umbilical stem cells. The moral and ethical concerns come into play when people start talking about the usage of embryonic stem cells. The morality for this will always rest with the individual and where they believe life truly begins.

Annotated Bibliography

Stem Cell Basics: Introduction . In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site]. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009 [cited Thursday, February 24, 2011] Available at