Abstract
This essay will discuss why I do not support embryonic stem cell research.
The Stem Cell Research Debate
In the last one hundred years medical research has advanced the health of humankind. Today Americans can expect to live an average age of 77 years old as compared to people born in 1900 where their life expectancy was on average only 49 years old. Stem cell research helps with the fight against disease but opens the door to many ethical and morality issues. Stem cell research will enable scientists to tinker with our genetic codes. By playing around with our genetic makeup could we be harming the future generations by aiding sick people today? When we try to change our genetic makeup, we are allowing scientists to undermine the basic laws of nature.
We are created with a set of genes that have evolved over hundreds of generations. Our imperfections may even have a purpose.
A colony of embryonic stem cells, from the H9 cell...
English: Embryonic Stem Cells. (A) shows hESCs. (B...
Mouse embryonic stem cells. More lab photosIf science gives us the ability to "cure" people who carry different genetic traits, then we are one step away from selective breeding. Who has the right to decide what is a "bad" gene that must be made "good"? Do we want to breed humans like we breed dogs or cats? By manipulating genes, we will be "playing God" and attempting to circumvent the laws of nature that govern creation. No one knows what will happen if we tinker with genes and what will happen to the gene pool a hundred generations from now.
Stem cell research sounds harmless, but taking cells from human embryos is an unacceptable sacrifice of potential life to save another. While stem cells hold great potential in medicine, they should be taken from adult tissue, not embryos, because there is no justification to kill off one potential life to try...