Stem cells as a life saver

Stem cells researchers are going to receive an appropriate part of the US$10 billion (S$15 billion) boost that healthcare areas has been allocated in the US federal stimulus plan.

Opinions regarding this matter are largely varied, and I personally strongly agree with this act by President Obama.

For those who are unable to make a decision, picture this: imagine that one day, treatments for incurable diseases like cancer, stroke, heart diseases, blindness and spinal cord injuries could be commonplace and affordable for the masses. Does this sound too good to believe? Stem cell treatment could one day make currently-expensive treatment widely available, boosting the healthcare services around the world in a groundbreaking way. Unfortunately, we are only in its infancy stages and this scenario remains fiction for now.

However, not all is lost. In November 2004, a group of scientists from Korea injected umbilical cord blood stem cells into the spinal cord of a woman who had been unable to walk for 19 years. Within 25 days, she was able walk with the help of a walking frame. This demonstrates one of the limitless possibilities that stem cell research can provide in the future.

This brings us to our next reason. Since stem cell technology holds so much promise, to stop this research is to deny people the right to live. This is especially relevant to us as cancer is currently the top cause of death in Singapore, causing 27.7% of all deaths, and it has been shown that stem cells could possibly treat cancer. Think of the family members of those who have been afflicted with these diseases. If you were one of them, wouldn’t you be desperately searching for ways that could help your loved ones? And thus if someone were to deny stem cell technology, it would be equivalent to denying someone the right to be healthy again.

On the other side of this argument, some people argue that stem cell research kills life. They argue that any of the embryos used in stem cell treatments could potentially become a human being if it was implanted into a female’s uterus. Using these embryos for research and killing them in the process is equivalent to killing a human. I beg to differ. In a sense, they are right in saying that embryos are humans and we should not destroy them. But considering that they could help another human survive, wouldn’t it also be murder if we let the embryos live and the patient die? While many would weep if the patient were to die from the illness, the same cannot be said of the embryo, and that is why this argument would not stand after all.

In conclusion, we can see that Obama’s move is a good one that has caused stem cell research to regain its funding and recognition in the global scientific community, and that we should and we must continue to support its growth as it could potentially save millions of lives in the future.