by Jill Felix

Created on: July 27, 2009

The functional and structural unit of any living organism is the cell. A stem cell is a type of cell found in most multi-cellular organisms. Their ability to renew themselves through different-tiating and mitotic cell division is their distinguishing characteristic. Cellular biologist Ernest Armstrong McCulloch and biophysicist James Edgar Till, both from Canada, are credited with initiating stem cell research. Stem cells can be divided into three categories - embryonic, adult, and induced pluripotent. Embryonic stem cells are "cultures of cells derived from the epiblast tissue of the inner cell mass (ICM) of a blastocyst or earlier morula stage embryos (Associated Press)." Consisting of 50 to 150 cells, these early stage embryos are four to five days old in humans. Through cell culture, stem cells can be "grown and transformed into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves (Tuch). " With stem cells potential to regenerate tissue over a lifetime, such research has gained ground/popularity in the medical field because of its supposed benefits to regenerative medicine and therapeutic cloning. Researchers believe that stem cells could be useful in treating a vast array of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer's, MS, Huntingtons, Parkinsons and more.

Controversy concerning embryonic stem cell research revolves around the destruction of the human embryo. Blastocyst or embryos are considered human life at conception argue pro-lifers. Destruction of what they consider life at this stage is immoral and unacceptable. Detrimental technologies devalue human life, ambiguously support abortion and are a slippery slope to reproductive cloning. On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama, in a land mark executive order ending an 8 year ban on federal funding for such research, authorized US Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. "At this moment," Obama stated "the full promise of stem cell research remains unknown and it should not be overstated. But scientists believe these tiny cells may have the potential to help us understand, and possibly cure, some of our most devastating diseases and conditions (Childs)."
With an economy in shambles due to rapacious greed and 1/6 of the U.S. population without health care, in addition to potentially encouraging abortions and human cloning, support of such research paid for with federal/public funding and no

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