“Stem Cell Research and Its Effect on Multiple Sclerosis”

“Stem Cell Research and Its Effect on Multiple Sclerosis”

In society today there are many controversial issues, but one of the most controversial issues is the employment and use of stem cell research. This issue has garnered much attention due to its division of scientific and religious communities around the world. The main question to this argument is “when does life begin?” My study of the topic comes from my father. He has had Multiple Sclerosis for the past twenty years. Multiple sclerosis (MS for short) is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord (also known as the central nervous system). When a person has MS, the covering (myelin) that protects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord is affected, so the message cannot always get through. According to an article on http://www.newscientist.com, after stem cells were removed from the bone marrow of patients with MS and the additional immune cells were destroyed and re-implanted, the patient showed improvement pertaining to their Multiple Sclerosis. Stem cell research is a very viable and potential cure for Multiple Sclerosis, but because of the controversy with stem cells, it is not being explored further. So what exactly is the controversy on stem cell research?

In the National Multiple Sclerosis society’s magazine Inside MS, an article titled “Activists on the Hill” speaks about potential things that are being done to progress the research of MS. The first action that can be done is called “The Access to Life – Saving Medicine Act” talks about the FDA allowing more applications to be reviewed and accept for people to get more affordable generic drugs. Another action being done is “The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act”. This act speaks of increasing the number of embryonic stem cell lines used and allowing new lines to be created from embryos that have been donated to science specifically for this use. A third action is the “Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program” (CDMRP). The...