The History Of Stem Cell Research Has Significantly Expanded Medical PossibilitiesStem cell research has significantly expanded medical possibilities for both curing of diseases and for infertility. The history of stem cell research can be traced back to the 1960s when it was discovered that stem cells in the brain constantly regenerated by themselves; a few years later, the same stem cell renewal was discovered in bone marrow too. By the late 1960s when there was the first successful bone marrow transplant, the history of stem cell research was assured a bright future as doctors realized at least some of the great potential this research had for treatment and therapy. Skipping to the late 1970s in the history of stem cell research, doctors discovered hematopietic stem cells in the human umbilical cord, which were seen as a promising discovery but it was not as yet known what kind of conditions this kind of medical discovery may be able to help with. It is now known that leukemia originates from a hematopietic stem cell, so such a discovery holds the hope of a cure for this disease.
In 1981, doctors successfully extracted embryonic stems cells - but only from mice. It was realized that these stem cells have regenerative properties and so the history of stem cell research rolled on, identifying more and more different types of stem cells and thus showing the way forward for specialized research into specific diseases affecting different parts of the body in a way only possible through stem cell research. History seems to have failed to convince politicians, though. Successive Presidents have prohibited the use of federal funds for stem cell research, perhaps made nervous by Christian and right wing objections to stem cell research as 'playing God' and 'murdering' embryos. In 2001, the Bush administration opposed the funding of embryonic stem cell research except that which would be carried out using existing, self propagating lines of cells. But many of those lines are contaminated, leaving less than two dozen available for research. No federal money could go to create new lines, the legislation stiulated. During the early twenty-first century a number of findings have been published on the properties of stem cells and their potential for medical treatments, especially on the benefits of adult stem cells. This is hoped to be a way to get around some of the main moral objections to stem cell research, which centre on the rights and wrongs of destroying human embryos, and deciding when it is exactly that human life begins. Human adult stem cells have even been found on children's primary teeth, which was quite a breakthrough in the history of stem cell research. Some states such as California are now passing legislation that challenges the federal government's limitations on funding, so the history of stem cell research looks to have a bright future too. |