Stem Cell Argumentative Essay

The medical world is no stranger to controversy surrounding its attempts to create a utopia with no disease or injury that cannot be cured. To summarize it, regenerative medicine is a new practice that allows our body to fix itself using its own cells. This would not only cure, for example, a pair of failing kidneys; it would eliminate the thousands of deaths a year of those on the waiting list for an organ donation. The ability to regenerate dying cells, which make up the tissue forming an organ, is possible with stem cells. A stem cell is a simple cell that has the ability to grow into any specialized cell in the body. There are three different forms of these stem cells found within the human body. Somatic stem cells, also referred to as

The ability to create these cells is what makes paralysis in the body a little less life altering. Each year there are approximately twelve thousand five hundred new spinal cord injuries in the United States alone. Roughly thirty-five percent of these injuries leave the person unable to use or feel their limbs and torso. In the book Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide author Paul Knoepfler says, “The range of severity of effects from SCI varies with the location and intensity of the trauma (the higher in the spinal column generally the more severe the injury), but the injuries frequently are profoundly devastating. Only rarely do patients who appear to have serious SCI (e.g. paraplegia) experience a complete recovery and usually signs of recovery would begin within days or a few weeks” explaining the how although some cases of spinal cord injuries are less severe than others, they are both still life altering. Regaining control of movement and sensation in these affected parts of the body would be nothing short of a medical miracle. Could this miracle be found within one’s own body? With the help of researchers’ new studies and trials, the answer to that question appears to be, yes. The body already uses stem cells to repair everyday mishaps, such as a small paper cut on the finger or a bruised knee. According to the book previously mentioned, researcher Hans Keirstead has possibly come up with a solution to heal the injured spinal cord. Keirstead used embryonic stem cells to create different kinds of spinal cord cells. Though this treatment has great potential, it does not seam possible to treat if an injury is too severe, or it has not been treated close to the time of the