The Importance of Stem Cell Research

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

: An Evaluation of The Restrictions on Federal Funding on Embryonic Stem Cell Research Through John Rawls ' Theory of Justice

Context of the Problem

For the scientific community , stem cell research is unquestionably an important undertaking that should receive as much funding as possible Right now , almost all respectable scientific centers in American universities vie for funding to be able to work on more research and experiments on both adult and embryonic stem cells . The University of Wisconsin - Madison , Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University are just three of

the universities that work for more breakthroughs in this field of research , and so far , their efforts prove to be worthwhile From Wisconsin University came the first proclamation that an adult stem cell has already been isolated in Harvard University , researchers are finding means to clone stem cells , and in Johns Hopkins University researchers have recently successfully restored the motor functions of a paralyzed rat through neurons derived from embryonic rat stem cells

Actually , these are just a few of the American breakthroughs in stem cell research . More and more clinical trials are underway to treat blood diss with adult stem cells found in the bone marrow and in the umbilical cord . This would make treatment of illnesses like leukemia lupus , anemia , multiple sclerosis , rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases and deficiencies possible (International Society for Stem Cell Research , 3 . These stem cells are also presently being investigated on their use to cure heart diseases as well as bone and cartilage repair (International Society for Stem Cell Research , 3

Now , if the biomedical promises of adult stem cell research prove to be exciting , scientists claim that research on embryonic stem cells would have to be breathtaking . Such a promise could easily be inferred by knowing that embryonic stem cells do not have the restrictions that adult stem cells have . Embryonic stem cells are totipotent , i .e , at their self-renewing state , they could be the building block of other stem cells as well as the other specialized cells . Adult stem cells , on the other hand , are multi-potent , i .e , their potencies are restricted within a tissue , organ , or physiological system . Thus , an adult blood stem cell could produce all cell types that are normal components of the blood and only of it (though , as we saw above , present researches are looking at the possibility of crossing this threshold (International Society for Stem Cell Research , 7 . Now , since embryonic stem cells are totipotent , common sense tells us that their use would be almost infinite , if only we could get to know and understand them more . It also implies that these stem cells could be made to produce all the 200 plus types of cells of the body , and hence , aid in the treatment of most known human diseases

Embryonic stem cells do not only hold promise on the production of the different cell types . Understanding the process of genetic on ' and off ' in the process of producing different cell types would...