BIOLOGY REVISION [ GCSE ]

Cell Biology - Stem Cells

A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell that hasn't yet become specialised.  Stem cells are able to turn into many different cell types from differentiation.

Stem cells can differentiate into any type of cell.  They are found in early human embryos.  Adults also have stem cells in places such as bone marrow.  Unlike embryonic stem cells, however, adult stem cells can't differentiate into any cell type.  Only certain cells, such as blood cells. 

Stem cells can be used to cure diseases.  65 diseases so far are being ventured into in the realms of stem cell research.  In theory, the possibilities are endless.  We have already successfully brought children into the world with stem cell research and have begun to cure several diseases with it.  There is no limit to the diseases stem cell research could cure.

THE CONTROVERSY:

Many people are against stem cell research.  In an idealistic world, it sounds like a great idea to cure every disease, however there are some flaws.

#1: GLOBAL OVERPOPULATION

Say somehow we do manage to develop stem cell research into a method of treating illness, what then?  Well, sickness would be cured with more effectiveness, many (if not all) killer diseases would be destroyed and people would live longer and longer.  Our population is currently around 8 billion, with around 80% of us living in poor conditions. 

These people living in poor conditions are pretty crammed in already, so if they all also start living longer and diseases are always cured, more and more people will be added to this pile of poverty.  Food can only go so far, so the rich will need more of it.  Food prices will go up dramatically because there's more to feed and not enough land to grow. 

This pile of poverty will get bigger and bigger as those considered wealthy no longer have a place to live thanks to price increase.  Then comes the riots, the murder, the corruption, the constantly increasing poverty rate.  Starvation on mass, and thanks to all those extra people, industrialisation has messed with climate change.  Ideal conditions for growing food are compromised thanks to weather anomalies due to the carbon dioxide from trying to house more and more people.

More and more land will be taken by housing leaving agriculture less and less space. 

The world will be a concrete jungle, each house stacked stories high.

Governments will be at one another's throats.

War, new and improved with nuclear weapons.

M.A.D. - also known as Mutually Assured Destruction.

Okay, perhaps that's a little specific and a little 'doom and gloom' but it is a worry that comes with stem cell research.

#2: MORALS

It's easy to forget that stem cell research is based on embryonic stem cells.  These are usually the leftovers from IVF (in vitro fertilisation), which laboratories ask to keep for scientific purposes.  Many people believe that stem cell research is murder - denying a possible life.  This is a good point, but the argument against it is just as valid: that these embryos do not have sentience or consciousness and are therefore not technically living.  Also, curing patients that are already alive and suffering is more important than feeling sorry for a child who won't exist.