Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Stem Cell Position Paper

This position paper was a challenging assignment, a joint effort between English and Science classes. Jessica took a stand on the controversial topic of stem cell research. Position papers must be short and concise but power-packed with information.




Stem Cell Research and Single Organ Transplants
By: Jessica Guerinot 

The United States of America should support stem cell research leading to single organ transplants. If a citizen of the U.S.A has a failing heart, kidney, and lung or other vital organ, that doctors should use the organs from stem cell research. Ethically doctors and medical researchers should limit the outcomes of stem cell research to vital organs.
            Embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated cells that are totipotent, which means they can become anything in the human body, from a skin cell to a kidney or heart. Embryonic stem cells are found in a blastocyst, which is a newly dividing zygote, a fertilized egg. According to Marcovitz (2011), stem cells have another source: “Stem cells can also be found in the bodies of newborns and adults as well” (p. 17). The adult stem cells are pluripotent, which means “the ability of stem cells to change any other cells found in the body” (Marcovitz, 2011, p. 19). Stem cell research has serious potential for medical innovation in the future.
 By conducting research and applying the results to medical cases, doctors could save the lives of many patients. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), there are currently 112,639 on organ donation waiting lists. Nancy Reagan, former first lady supports stem cell research by saying, "Science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with answers that have so long been beyond our grasp. I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this - there are just so many diseases that can be cured, or at least helped. We have lost so much time already, and I just really can't bear to lose any more." Overall, doctors could benefit thousands of people by conducting such research.
Stem cells can be easily made to benefit patients worldwide and help move the medical world into a more modern state. Altogether, stem cell research should be used for vital organs.

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