Pros of Stem Cell Research
Well, Barack Obama's views on stem cell research are clear: there should be essentially no federal limits on funding it, and he is about to sign an executive order (if he hasn't already at the time of this writing) to reverse the restrictions on federal funding that were put into place by President G.W. Bush. Bush said that no embryos in storage that were killed after August of 2001 would be permitted to have their stem cell researchers funded by the feds.
Now, stem cell research is a hot topic among Conservatives. It's not much of a hot topic amongst Liberals--but don't be fooled. It's not because Liberals are "scientific", except in a perverted Nazi-Marxist way. It's just that Liberals don't accept the sanctity of human life like Conservatives do. And therein lies the problem that Conservatives have had with stem cell research.
Of course, Conservatives would also argue that Barack Obama has no business federally funding something that should be done entirely by the private sector--and by that standard, Bush did not go far enough with his restrictions, either. But, private market principles aside, what are the pros of stem cell research, and what are the disadvantages of stem cell research?
PROS OF STEM CELL RESEARCH
Stem cells are cells that can be harvested from human embryos and made to differentiate into any other type of cell in the body. This is nothing less than miraculous and holds great promise to be used to reverse or cure a wide array of terrible diseases and conditions including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, congenital diseases, birth defects, and spinal cord injuries. It's also firmly believed that they can be used to grow new organs for a body including a heart, making organ transplant surgery much safer or, perhaps, no longer necessary.
Stem cells can also be harvested from adults and have been successfully used already for things like safe, 100% natural women's breast enhancement and facial skin rejuvenation. However, the stem cells harvested from the embryo have even more flexibility in the different kinds of cells they can be induced to turn into.
There are other arguments touting the pros of stem cell research, too, although for many Conservatives they are more controversial. These include:
- If someone is going to have an abortion, we might as well derive as much benefit from that as we possibly can.
- A cost-benefit analysis of the procedure and potential cures and treatments favors doing stem cell research, as this could utterly revolutionize medicine forever.
DISADVANTAGES OF STEM CELL RESEARCH
The biggest problem that Conservatives have had with stem cell research is this: the embryo has its stem cells harvested after it has grown for four or five days--and this kills the embryo. This embryo is super teeny weeny, and you would never dream that you were looking at a potential human being if you were to see it under the microscope. Nevertheless, many Conservatives take the stance that a human life or "soul" begins at conception, and so this five-day-old unrecognizable embryo still has a right to life--and thus, cannot be used for stem cell harvesting.* Liberals, needless to say, usually don't see it that way--especially when they tend to take abortion so lightly.
But there are other potential problems with stem cell research and development, say critics, Conservative and otherwise:
Scientists and powerful financial backers, especially governmental backers, will try to play God with the technology and we'll have a eugenics and human engineering (cloning) explosion.
- This will incentivize a black market for abortions.
- There is too much uncertainty about just how much medical treatment can really be gotten from stem cells.
An important note: in the Summer of 2006, scientists announced that they have made a breakthrough with the harvesting procedure and they now know how to remove the eight to 10 stem cells present in less-developed embryos--and, this procedure does NOT kill the embryo.
CONCLUSION
Barack Obama's views on stem cell research don't have to be thought about much by him. Conservatives are more reflective. But, I think we can say that if the new non-lethal harvesting procedure seems to work, we should stop our own knee-jerk reaction about (against) it. Because the potential benefits really are nothing less than miraculous. Let's leave the knee-jerking to the Liberals.
pros of stem cell research