What is your opinion on embryonic stem cell research?
Are you asking yourself about whether or not you should contact a local cord blood bank?
The thought of cord blood banking has seen an higher acceptance in the past few years. Right now people are giving it serious thought to bank their infant’s cord blood. Years ago, the umbilical cord used to be dumped after the child was actually delivered, however with expanding feeling of how beneficial the blood of the umbilical cord is, the medical professionals have now started to store the blood of the umbilical cord in cord blood banks.
After a lot of medical research has been done on what might be done with the umbilical cord researchers have observed that it is very good to store the umbilical cord in a cord blood bank. The blood from the umbilical cord is exceedingly helpful in dealing with a variety of diseases associated with the immune system as well as other blood related disorders which people suffer from. Till the mid 1990s the umbilical blood was never stored in a cord blood bank; however after the mid 1990s the medical world have began to grasp the importance of umbilical blood and are now sharing awareness about the intrinsic value of storing umbilical blood in a cord blood bank.
The rising importance of the Cord blood bank
The most basic reason why people are now looking into using a cord blood bank is because the umbilical blood is considered to be so precious. This is since it has high amount of hematopoietic stem cells and can be stored in the cord blood banks safely for years. The importance of having a high quantity of hematopoietic stem cells is that this precise type of blood has the capability to generating new white blood cells and red blood cells. The idea behind the use of cord blood is similar to that of bone marrow transplants which have been in use for a long time. However unlike the bone marrow which needed to be a perfect match, the utilization of the umbilical blood does not involve such a perfect match.
There are many increased chances of treating an ailment with the use of umbilical blood than there have ever been with the bone marrow transplants since the likelihood of someones body rejecting the umbilical blood are much less in comparison to his chances of rejecting the bone marrow.
The continuous stem cell research shows that there are roughly 70 diseases that can be cured with the use of the umbilical cord blood. It is for this reason that increasingly more people are now starting to stock up their baby’s umbilical cord blood in a local cord blood bank. The cord blood is not only useful to the child whose umbilical cord blood is stored, but this blood can also be used by the family members of the children as well. The use of umbilical blood is vital because research proves that the use of the umbilical blood can aid in curing cancer, damaged internal organs as well as blood disorders, which is one of the main reasons why a lot of people are opting to use a cord blood bank service.
If you want to have your baby’s umbilical blood stored ought to select a cord blood bank well before the delivery of your child because not all hospitals are equipped collect and move the umbilical blood to the cord blood bank. So you would need to decide the cord blood bank and let your dr know more or less 2 months in advance so that you can streamline the progression of documentation and preparation for the collection and storage of your baby’s umbilical cord blood to the cord blood bank.
I believe that this research’s potential for cures for outweighs the negative. Everyone says, “oh we shouldn’t kill embryos and other methods work fine.” First of all, many embryos are discarded today that could be used to find cures for various dieseases. Also, embryonic stem cells are the most malleable form of stem cells, so they are the easiest kind to work with and have more potential. I think the government should fund stem cell research. What do you think?
The negatives are the ethics of it. Some people believe that using embryos for this purpose is wrong.
Filed under Stem Cell by on Oct 22nd, 2009. 
Comments on What is your opinion on embryonic stem cell research?
Didn’t know there were negatives.
I understand the good points but cannot get past the moral objections. I’d be upset with federal funding.
I think that anyone who is against stem cell research is an uninformed idiot reacting from an unfounded, religiously-motivated stance of stupidity.
I am all for it and for gov’t funding of it.
The argument that it takes killing babies to make stem cells is ludicrous and just plain ignorant.
Where is all the outrage when millions of embryos are destroyed every year because the are not needed/wanted for in vitro fertilization?
It is also a fact that the only debate is whether federal dollars should be spent on it. There are very few embryonic stem cell investors in the private sector compared to those investing in adult stem cells for one very important reason: Adult stem cell research has produced a multitude of treatment and cures for various diseases, while embryonic stem cells have not produced any. Remember, this is NOT because there is a ban on embryonic stem cell research, because there is no such ban. The controversy surrounding the federal government and embryonic stem cell research is whether the government should pay for it.
I’m against the potential to harvest from embryos.
But if we were all given the option of harvesting cells from the cord that goes from mum to baby (sorry can’t remember what it’s called) then the issue would be null and void, because the same stem cells are found there.
If I ever have any more kids i will be requesting that the doc’s take some blood from there and I will have it stored for my child.
It’s just an attempt to prove Darwin wrong.
Selectivity Rules.
I’m with Darwin on this one.
Ian M