Stem Cells Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stem Cells - Essay Example Stem cells are not specialized and have the capacity of renewing themselves through a biological process called cell division. Moreover, research has shown that when stem cells can be induced to become specific organ specific cells or became a tissue with special functions (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2002). Stem cells play a critical role in some organs like the bone marrow and the gut whereby they divide regularity to replace damaged or worn out tissues. There are two major kinds of stem cells. They include embryonic stem cells and somatic or adult stem cells. Stem cells are important for any living organisms in many ways (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2002). In this scenario, 3-5 years old blastcyst or the embryo inner cells give rise to all body tissues and organs with different specialized functions like the heart, lungs, eggs, sperm cells and many other cells with different specialized functions. Moreover, on adults, stem cells play a crucial role through the regeneration capacity they are able to regenerate cells that have been lost through disease, normal wear or injury. Due to their unique capacity to regenerate new cells, stem cells have played a potential role in treating diseases like heart diseases and diabetes. Research is ongoing to establish on how to use these cells to treat disease, and there are several achievements in this field that is now called reparative or regenerative medicine. One of the cons surrounding the stem cells is controversy concerning the ethics. This is because until recent years scientists have been using aborted embryo to derive the embryonic stem cells from which is unethical. However, with the advancement of technology, researchers currently use ethical methods like the Induced Pluripotent Stem cells (iPS). The cells are artificially derived from non-pluripotent cell like the somatic cells (Explorable.com, 2008). The use of pluripotent stem cells had shunned the controversial