In the peer-reviewed Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, the authors assert that within the genre of clinical trials there are critical ethical issues that need to be addressed and resolved. While patients and other advocates are pressing to see that stem cell science continue "moving expeditiously," the authors assert that "caution is appropriate" due to the "risk of adverse events" (Lo, et al
Where is the current research being done on Parkinson's disease? In Hiroshima, Japan, at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Therapeutics in the Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, researchers are experimenting with embryonic stem cells from mice in an effort to make progress on a therapy for Parkinson's. In the Journal of Neurochemistry the authors explain that the mice embryonic stem cells (ES) showed the "fundamental characteristics consistent with dopaminergic neurons," but the model neurons (ES cell-driven) also showed "increased susceptibility to oxidative stress, proteasome inhibition, and mitochondrial inhibition" (Yamashita, 2006, p
There are two opposing viewpoints when it comes to stem cell research. The strongest opposition is the use of embryonic stem cells for research (Cahill, 2001)
There are many legal and ethical questions that surround stem cell research. Whether or not it should be legal is a major concern of some people (Friedrich, 2000)
Many supporters believe research should be allowed to continue on embryonic stem cells, and that they should be able to be created for the sole purpose of research. In stem cell research, embryonic cells are used (Moran, 2003)
However, state funds are the wrong way to go about funding this research, as the responsibility for funding falls to taxpayers. To fund the initiative, the state will sell up to $3 billion in general obligation bonds (Somers, 2004)
Embryonic Stem Cell Research In November 1998, two research groups independently announced that they had isolated human stem cells from embryonic tissues, had cultivated the cells, and shown these cells could develop into all three basic layers of cells in the human embryo (Lysaught 1999)
Other possibilities include "the treatment of spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, arthritis, muscular dystrophy, kidney disease, liver disease, and macular degeneration" (Lysaught 1999). Embryonic stem cells form at a very early stage in human development and remain in an undifferentiated state for a brief period (Wright 1999)
These cells are considered to be totipotent because they rise to a complete individual, and when the inner cell mass cells are cultured in a dish, they are called embryonic stem cells (Wright 1999). Up until the formation of the primitive streak, which will develop into the spinal cord, and cell differentiation, which occurs about fourteen days after fertilization, the developing embryo can cleave naturally or artificially, resulting in the production of identical siblings, therefore, embryonic cells that are still part of the inner cell mass are described as totipotent because they can give rise to new organisms (McCartney 2002)
The 2003 Hastings Case Report discussed several issues concerning stem cell research. One concern pointed out was that for biological reasons alone, stem cell-based therapies might not be available for every patient who could benefit, and depending on how the issue is addressed, might ultimately benefit primarily white Americans (Gearhart 2003)
The report cautions that unless the problem of biological access is carefully addressed, an American stem cell bank might end up benefiting primarily white Americans, to the relative exclusion of the rest of the population (Gearhart 2003). Under the terms of Canada's proposed Assisted Human Reproduction Act outlined in September 22, 2003 issue of Health Law Review, it is not ethically acceptable to create human embryos specifically for research purposes, although "in cases where human embryos are created for reproductive purposes, and subsequently are no longer required for such purposes research involving human embryos may be considered to be ethically acceptable" if they meet certain criteria outlined in the bill (Knoppers 2003)
Under the terms of Canada's proposed Assisted Human Reproduction Act outlined in September 22, 2003 issue of Health Law Review, it is not ethically acceptable to create human embryos specifically for research purposes, although "in cases where human embryos are created for reproductive purposes, and subsequently are no longer required for such purposes research involving human embryos may be considered to be ethically acceptable" if they meet certain criteria outlined in the bill (Knoppers 2003). In November 2004, the United States and other opponents of human cloning shelved their bid for a United Nations treaty to ban the controversial procedure due to opposition by nations seeking to allow cloning from embryonic stem cell research (Wadhams 2004)
Moreover, the Bush reelection campaign attempted to get its hands on the membership directories of 1,600 churches in "the swing state of Pennsylvania"; this provoked a controversy because it "violated campaign finance and tax laws" that require congregations to remain non-partisan if they truly expect to retain their tax-exempt status. It became clear by 2004-2005 that a majority of American supported embryonic stem cell research; according to a poll in 2005 "…two-thirds of Americans approved of the research" (Burgin, 2009, p
And hence, the main moral objection to embryonic stem cell research "…is therefore eliminated" (Montague, 319). What Successes have Stem Cells Researchers Achieved Thus Far? A story in the peer-reviewed journal Lancet points to two "legally blind women" who have "appeared to gain some vision" after they have received embryonic stem cells in an experimental treatment (Chang, 2012, p
R. 810 by a vote of 63 to 37 (43 Democrats, 19 Republicans voted yes)
The Moral Issues -- the Controversies Richard Doerflinger writes in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics that a human embryo is in fact a human being albeit that human is only in its first week of development. The embryo is one part of what Doerflinger calls "the continuum of human development that stretches from that first formation of a unique organism…" to the end of a person's life (Doerflinger, 2010, p
Bush Administration was (72). The Politics that Stalled Stem Cell Research On the subject of Bush and his policies -- he gave an executive order on August 9, 2011, that federal funds could be used only for those embryonic stem cells that existed on that date, putting a huge damper on progress into this vital research -- the former president was clearly courting the conservative Christian vote when he ran for office in 2000, and his election was paying dividends to that constituency (Hurlbut, 2006, p
On the other side of the issue is professor Insoo Hyun of the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio. Hyun insists, "…it is simply false to claim that all early-stage embryos have the potential for complete human life" (Hyun, 2010, p
There were not enough votes to override the veto, and so important tools for conducting research were not to be made available during the Bush eight-year presence in the White House. Additional Ethical Approaches to Stem Cell Research To Philosophy professor Phillip Montague's (Western Washington University), the proposition that individuals who are now full-grown adults "…once existed as embryos from which stem cells could have been removed" is a flawed argument (Montague, 2011, p
2). An article in USA Today (Ritter, 2010) that was published by the Associated Press presents the news that transplants of adult stem cells have become "…a standard lifesaving therapy for perhaps hundreds or thousands of people with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood diseases