Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into different cell types in the body as they can theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell. Stem cells have two important characteristics that distinguish them from other types of cells. First, they are unspecialized cells that renew themselves for long periods through cell division and second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

Scientists primarily work with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells, which have different functions and characteristics that will be explained later in this document. Scientists discovered ways to obtain or derive stem cells from early mouse embryos more than 20 years ago. Many years of detailed study of the biology of mouse stem cells led to the discovery, in 1998, of how to isolate stem cells from human embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory. These are called human embryonic stem cells. The embryos used in these studies were created for infertility purposes through in vitro fertilization procedures and when they were no longer needed for that purpose, they were donated for research with the informed consent of the donor.

Embryonic stem cells involved the destruction of a human embryo and on August 9th, 2001, President George W. Bush announced that federal funds may be awarded for research using human embryonic stem cells if the following criteria are met:

• The derivation process (which begins with the destruction of the embryo) was initiated prior to 9:00 P.M. EDT on August 9, 2001.
• The stem cells must have been derived from an embryo that was created for reproductive purposes and was no longer needed.
• Informed consent must have been obtained for the donation of the embryo and that donation must not have involved financial inducements.

The NIH, as the Federal government's leading biomedical research organization, is implementing the President's policy and funds research scientists to conduct research on existing human embryonic stem cells and to explore the enormous promise of these unique cells, including their potential to produce breakthrough therapies and cures.

Investigators from 14 laboratories in the United States, India, Israel, Singapore, Sweden, and South Korea have derived stem cells from seventy-one individual, genetically diverse blastocysts that met the President's criteria for use in federally funded human embryonic stem cell research. The NIH has consulted with each of the investigators who have derived these cells and these scientists are working with the NIH and the research community to establish a research infrastructure to ensure the successful handling and the use of these cells in the laboratory.

Scientists want to study stem cells in the laboratory so they can learn about their essential properties and what makes them different from specialized cell types. As scientists learn more about stem cells, it may become possible to use the cells not just in cell-based therapies, but also for screening new drugs and toxins and understanding birth defects. However, as mentioned above, human embryonic stem cells have only been studied since 1998. Therefore, in order to develop such treatments scientists are intensively studying the fundamental properties of stem cells, which include:

   1. Determining precisely how stem cells remain unspecialized and self renewing for many years; and
   2. Identifying the signals that cause stem cells to become specialized cells.

It has been hypothesized by scientists that stem cells may, at some point in the future, become the basis for treating diseases such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and heart disease.

Human embryonic and adult stem cells each have advantages and disadvantages regarding potential use for cell-based regenerative therapies. Of course, adult and embryonic stem cells differ in the number and type of differentiated cells types they can become. Embryonic stem cells can become all cell types of the body because they are pluripotent (capable of giving rise to several cell types). Adult stem cells are generally limited to differentiating into different cell types of their tissue of origin. However, some evidence suggests that adult stem cell plasticity may exist, increasing the number of cell types a given adult stem cell can become. Large numbers of embryonic stem cells can be relatively easily grown in culture, while adult stem cells are rare in mature tissues and methods for expanding their numbers in cell culture have not yet been worked out. This is an important distinction, as large numbers of cells are needed for stem cell replacement therapies. A potential advantage of using stem cells from an adult is that the patient's own cells could be expanded in culture and then reintroduced into the patient. The use of the patient's own adult stem cells would mean that the cells would not be rejected by the immune system. This represents a significant advantage, as immune rejection is a difficult problem that can only be circumvented with immunosuppressive drugs. Embryonic stem cells from a donor introduced into a patient could cause transplant rejection. However, whether the recipient would reject donor embryonic stem cells has not been determined in human experiments.

The above material has been excerpted from information available on the government web-site stemcells.nih.gov.

At issue, in this conversation, is the limiting of federal funding for stem cell research to the seventy-one genetically diverse cell lines that existed prior to August 9th, 2001 (9:00 P. M. EDT yet). It has been reported that many of these seventy-one embryonic cell lines are unusable because they have become contaminated. Since the founding of the republic, many presidents have committed millions of its finest and bravest young men and women, at various times and places, to defend the country against adversaries and to intercede in foreign aggressions that were engaged in genocidal or massively suppressive conflicts. It thus seems that we, as a nation, are amenable to enduring significant sacrifices while confronting aggressive regimes that are inflicting immense instability, pain, and suffering on populations yet, when the enemies are man-kinds insidious diseases or physiological deteriorations, we are unwilling to sacrifice embryos as combatants in the fight against these afflictions. It seems that our moral willingness to sacrifice lives or potential lives is inconsistent.

There exists large numbers of stored embryos (I don’t know how many) that will never be utilized for their intended purpose. What is to become of them? Would it not be better for them to be used in research programs that expand the genetic diversity, reduce test result uncertainties, and speed up the knowledge process? It has been speculated that the physiological pain and suffering encountered in Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, spinal chord injuries, Alzheimer’s disease, and many other lesser known diseases perhaps even AIDS may well be eliminated by the knowledge obtained from these many stem cell research programs. These afflictions impact everyone on the planet and certainly any positive outcomes in fighting these diseases will improve the quality of life for everyone the world over. Let’s get on with it!