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Stem Cell Research Argumentative Essay

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Scientists have become very excited about the almost endless possibilities that come from one thing: stem cells. A stem cell is a wonderful thing found in multicellular organisms and it has the ability to become infinite amounts of any cell type. Stem cells are considered to be totipotent (the ability to change into other cell types). Stem cell research has both great pros and shocking cons. The ability to cure disease and alleviate suffering is intermingled with the destruction of potential human life. I’ll be discussing stem cells and issues concerning stem cell research and use in the following paragraphs.
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the amazing ability to become other cells. This means that a stem cell has the ability to become any type of cell in the body. For example if a person has a heart attack leading to heart damage, stem cells can be used to create new heart …show more content…

Some of the first trials with stem cells was with heart disease. Heart disease killed 787,000 people in the US in 2011. What’s more, an American suffers a heart attack every 34 seconds and someone dies from a heart related event every minute. Unlike other cells in the body, heart cells don’t regenerate. Doctors transplanted stem cells, usually from bone marrow in the hip, to the diseased heart tissue. There have been mixed results but recent trials have shown small but significant improvement in heart function. Stem cell therapy is also a subject of interest for type 1 diabetes which is caused by autoimmune destruction of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas. Diabetes in the number one cause of blindness and the sixth leading cause of death in the US. The most promising form of treatment is that mesenchymal stem cells will be grown outside the body and turned into insulin producing beta cells that can be returned to the patient so they can once again produce insulin in their

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