November 27, 2009

Stem Cell Research (part 1) essay

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Stem Cell Research (part 1). Custom Stem Cell Research (part 1) Essay Writing Service ||Stem Cell Research (part 1) Essay samples, help

Within the scope of this research, we will assess the issue of stem cell research. The term "cell" comes from the Latin word cella, or "small room." (Potten et al 2006) Robert Hooke, a seventeenth-century Renaissance man, coined the term when he first peered through his handcrafted, leather- and gold-tooled microscope at a piece of cork. Reportedly, he came up with the name when the little cells he saw through the microscope reminded him of the small rooms that housed medieval monks. (Green 2001) In humans and other forms of animal life, stem cells are the special, primal structures in the body that retain two special traits: first, the ability to divide indefinitely, and second, the ability to differentiate into other cell types.

These traits are at the root of why stem cells are a source of both order and chaos, representing miracle cure and societal curse. Specifically, the cells that show the most potential can only be retrieved with great difficulty—and through the destruction of a human embryo. It’s possible that these "embryonic" stem cells may lead to great things in the future, lint in the here and now, religious conservatives see their destruction as nothing more than a high-tech form of cannibalism. Belief over what is right permeates the field of stem cell study and its researchers.

Due to the compromise worked out by President Bush and the religious conservative wing of his party, federal funding is only available to firms that are working with stem cell lines derived from human embryos before August 9, 2001. (Carrier et al 2007) There was a strong backlash against this decision by groups who wanted to press stem cell research forward as quickly as possible. Proposition 71 passed by California voters to hand over $3 billion in state money, was only the beginning. (Carrier et al 2007) Just as California tends to set trends for the rest of the country in terms of culture, the West Coast’s cutting-edge initiative system tends to do the same thing. California’s measure has set off similar legislative issues in other states.

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