Learn About Stem Cell Research Before Rejecting It (Guest Voice)

Learn About Stem Cell Research Before Rejecting It

by Jim Bell

There has been much in the blogosphere during the last week concerning stem cell research, all of which seemingly triggered by Obama’s reversal of Bush’s policy to deny government funding for stem cell research. Arguments from the right consistently state that stem cell research is morally wrong because the cells being used come from embryos which are destroyed when the cells are taken for the research. From the left, a wave of praise that the research is now being allowed; now we can focus on finding cures for many diseases that have proved difficult, if not impossible to tackle for the last century.

The research has always been allowed, conservatives say, it has merely been denied funding from the government. The only change is where the money comes from.

This is like listening to insurance companies say that they are not denying coverage when they refuse to pay for a surgical procedure-they are just denying payment.

That argument will only wash if the client being denied has the money for the operation in the first place. The same holds true with stem cell research. Most medical research happens in Universities and most of that research is funded by government grants specifically set forth for said research. Conservatives know this already, so they should can that argument.

If you take a look at how this stem cell research happens it doesn’t seem so outrageous. One would think from listening to arguments against these programs that the laboratories had stables of young women intentionally getting pregnant and aborting their fetuses-or that these labs had harvesting teams camped outside of abortion clinics to collect tissue from freshly aborted fetuses–solely for the purpose of providing the necessary stem cells so the labs can have a steady supply to conduct their research. All of the recent preaching against this research on the grounds that this represents killing, or that it is stopping a potential life, is gobbledygook. These stem cells are taken from cultures generated in a laboratory environment and grown in Petri dishes. Yes, they are from a laboratory fertilization process that results in embryos.

To take the moral high ground here would be one thing if these cells were taken from aborted fetuses, but they are not. In fact, the largest religious organization in the United States, The Catholic Church, frowns on using this
type of embryo to achieve pregnancy anyway. They don’t approve of in vitro fertilization. So if this type of embryo shouldn’t be used to create life in the first place (according to the Catholic Church), what should be done with them? Why not use them in medical research? But wait; can’t we use other types of cells so we can avoid this dilemma concerning morals and ethics? According to The National Institutes of Health resource for stem cell research informational website, embryonic stem cells have two interesting characteristics:

“First, they are unspecialized cells that renew themselves for long periods through cell division. The second is that under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.”

Adult stem cells also have an enormous range of research possibilities, but embryonic stem cells are showing more promise because they have a greater flexibility of application. In layman’s terms, these cells can be shaped, or programmed if you will, to morph into any type of cell in the body. The scientific community is making tremendous progress in finding new ways to further stimulate these cells to achieve many desired end results that ultimately will make life for ailing and aging humans not only more bearable, but possibly bring about a complete return to disease free life. That translates into high quality life for many whom up until now had such low quality of life that they have lost all hope for anything but death.

Where is the moral high ground in fighting that?

Jim Bell was born in Missouri in 1950 and is a graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in Creative writing/Journalism. He spent over 20 years in the newspaper business and worked in production. He now lives in the Denver area with his wife and runs a blog called The Sensible Approach. He says: “I view myself as slightly to the right of center politically. My views are slightly conservative on the economy and foreign policy and liberal on human rights. It is my opinion that life for the average American goes smoother when there is a balance between the Democrats and Republicans in both houses of congress. Our comfort lies in the fact that a balance of power means that both parties must compromise to get anything done.”