410 Forum — Opinion
Stem Cell Research: Is It Worth The Price?
By Lindsey Trujillo
If there was a way to give someone who is dying from a disease a second chance at life, but the cost may go against everything you think is morally right, then is it worth it?
Stem cell research is one of the nation’s most controversial topics. Scientists can obtain stem cells in two ways. With in-vitro fertilization, scientists take a donated egg, fertilize it and create a live embryo. Then stem cells are extracted while terminating the embryo. Adult stem cells can be found in many different tissues in the body. The cells are extracted with the hopes that they will multiply and create new stem cells.
Stem cell research could help many people with a lot of different diseases. Brittney is a 20 year-old woman battling type 1-diabetes. She checks her blood levels about every couple of hours to see if she needs more insulin or if she needs to eat something to take down her glucose levels. She must pay close attention to her blood levels, so she has to watch what she eats and how much she exercises. She takes six shots of insulin a day. Her body is slowing shutting down, her pancreas no longer produces any insulin, and her kidneys are starting to weaken. This is due to the amount of toxins that her body is producing.
Using the knowledge gained from stem cell research, doctors could possibly create Brittney a new pancreas from stem cells extracted from an in-vitro fertilization. For Brittney and many others, this creates a moral and ethical dilemma.
Research that could save your life is definitely something that could persuade someone dying from a disease. But they might think again if the research goes against your belief system. In-vitro fertilization is an inhumane process because it creates and terminates a live embryo. One should not be destroyed in order to help another. This is what my belief system tells me.
On the other hand, I see my close friend struggling every day with a disease that she did not ask for. It is like finding a cure for cancer and keeping it locked up from the world. Many would say that the pros outweigh the cons in a situation like this.
While I am more swayed to accept the process used to obtain adult stem cells, in which cells are found in already existing tissues, I cannot accept in-vitro fertilization. The cost of creating and destroying live embryos is an amount that I am not willing to pay. I cannot turn my back on my own belief system and turn a blind eye to the emotional constraints that I feel about this process.
Though I do not agree with stem cell research that uses in-vitro fertilization cell research, I still support new ways that can help find cures for the many disease across the world, but let’s hope that a larger moral boundary will be put into place and will not cause harm to other beings.
