Multiple Sclerosis (MS) runs in my family. It is a disease that attacks the body’s nervous system, often causing problems with mobility, balance, vision, speech and more.
My grandfather has had MS for many years and has been in a wheelchair for as long as I can remember. My mom was diagnosed with MS about 10 years ago, but hasn’t suffered any major complications yet.
Currently, there is no available cure for MS. However, it is among the list of diseases that scientists say may be curable with the help of embryonic stem cell research.
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama lifted the eight year ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, placed there by the Bush administration.
“Medical miracles do not happen simply by accident. They result from painstaking and costly research, from years of lonely trial and error, much of which never bears fruit and from a government willing to support that work,” President Obama said.
I couldn’t agree more. In order to cure these diseases, research is needed. However, the harvesting and destroying of human embryos is not the way to go about finding cures for these diseases.
I believe that human life starts at the point of conception; therefore, destroying a human embryo is destroying a human life.
In embryonic stem cell research, cells are taken from the embryo and altered into whatever cells are needed. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means they have the potential to take on the characteristics of any of the body’s 220 cell types.
This makes them very useful for scientists. However, the fact still remains that after the cells are extracted, the embryo is destroyed.
This practice is unethical and should not be funded by our federal government.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very exciting that some major diseases, including MS may be curable with more stem cell research, but there are other types of stem cell research that we should invest in.
Recently, scientists have discovered iPSC’s (Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) which are adult cells taken from any adult organ that can be altered into pluripotent cells.
In other words, scientists have found a way to take these ordinary cells and make them take on the properties of any other cell in the body, discontinuing the need for embryonic stem cells.
However, at this point, these cells still pose a risk to humans. During testing on rats, many rats developed forms of cancer after receiving these artificially altered cells.
This is exactly why we need to pour more money into the research of iPSC’s. If we can get them to function properly, we can have stem cell research without the unethical use of human embryos.
MS has directly affected my family and, because it is in the family, I may very well develop it one day, too.
My family and I find it wonderful and fascinating that this once deemed incurable disease may now be curable through stem cell research.
However, we all agree that on this journey for a cure, we shouldn’t sacrifice human life along the way.
