Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to develop into any other cell in the body. Many researchers have high hopes that one day they may be able to use this special property of stem cells to help cure people with severe illnesses such as heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer by creating replacement cells and even organs from these stem cells. Currently, there are two types of stem cells. These are, the adult stem cells that are harvested from adult tissues of the person and embryonic stem cells that are harvested from a four day old embryo which is known as the blastocyst.

The real controversy over embryonic stem cell research has centered around the fact that extracting stem cells from the embryo, causes the stem cell to die. While researchers and supporters of embryonic stem cell research have tried to justify this unnecessary loss of life by promoting the potential benefits as a result of embryonic stem cell research, many of these have been blown out of proportion. The truth is that there it is impossible for embryonic stem cell treatment to work at all and that killing embryos for the sake of medical research is inhuman and immor

Secondly, there have already been successes in the area of using adult stem cells from the tissues of the patient themselves. While little to no success have been met with using embryonic stem cells as a form of treatment, adult stem cell treatment have met with resounding success on a regular basis. This is largely due to the fact that adult stem cells are extracted from the patient and this effectively solves the problem of immune rejection as the cells or organs derived from adult stem cells will have the same antigens as the patient itself. Additionally, there can be no moral qualms associated with adult stem cells as extracting adult stem cells does not involve killing any human being. Indeed, adult stem cells have proved to be a far more viable alternative than embryonic stem cells and further research should be directed to this area of treatment rather than to the unreliable embryonic stem cell treatment. One of the successes of adult stem cell treatment was in July 2001 when German doctors reported that a patient’s own adult stem cells from bone marrow were used to regenerate damaged tissue from a heart attack the patient had suffered earlier. When faced with such overwhelming evidence, it can be clearly seen that embryonic stem cell research is completely unecessary and that adult stem cells are the way of the future. As such, adult stem cells already have a proven track record while embryonic stem cells only have a theoretical potential for good. Stem cells should not be used from spare human embryos. Instead, more research should be devoted to adult stem cells.

Finally, the killing of the embryo for the so-called ‘benefits’ of another human being is unjustifiable. Human life – no matter in what shape or form- is unique and precious and

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