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In an ideal society, viruses and diseases would be non-existent. What if this could be possible' What if we were able to do something about the diseases that take over our loved ones' Embryonic stem cell research has the potential to cure fatal diseases and terminal illnesses. This method may seem unethical, but its positives outweigh its negatives. Through research and funding we will be able to achieve limitless results and even the key to unlocking such an ideal society. Stem cell constitute an important class of cells in the body, their process of self renewal has a great potential for tissue repair. More and more institutions are requesting states to fund this research. Despite the positive possibilities in stem cell research some say that this research is unethical due to the method through which it is conducted. How do stem cells work' As shown in the diagram below it is inserted through the vitro fertilized egg and then goes through the blastocyst stage, from there the inner stem cell mass cultivates and branches off into the necessary areas for recovery, such as blood cells, neural cells and muscle cells. This research is an important part of the current medical field because it has vast potential to become one of the strongest and most vital methods in helping treat current “incurable” diseases such as HIV, AIDs, and many others. As of now many are for this research as well as against it, and due to this clash the process of research has slowed down and caused controversy amongst many scientists and politicians. However there has been progress since stem cell research was first introduced back before 1996, showing that the number of citations on stem cells per year was a little under 500 for both the U.S. and the rest of the world, and now a little over ten years later the number has increased for the U.S. to a little under thirty-five hundred citations, and a little under two thousand citations for the rest of the world per year. Although scientists for stem cell research are still rallying for support, we currently have the NIH (National Institute of Health) placing high priority in supporting embryonic stem cell research and are finding a multitude of ways in motivating researchers and finding new techniques to enter this field with. Some examples of ways the NIH are motivating researchers are as follows: The NIH is providing training for new researchers to work with human embryonic stem cell lines, the NIH is also providing ways to support federal funding and to characterize human embryonic stem cells while giving accessibility to these lines, and another way the NIH is helping to improve embryonic stem cell research is through motivating established researchers to explore newer areas and to initiate projects involving human stem cell research. As stated before, this research is a vital part of the future of medicine, and has the power to reproduce, repair, or even create newer cells in order to replace damaged or non-existent cells so that we may eliminate high risk diseases, or control it better. In order to proceed in researching stem cells for humans, we must get over the negatives that are slowing us down. The negatives that are used to argue against stem cell research is its ethical and immoral issues. The ethical issues surrounding this subject create the thought process of the preservation of human life at any cost. The thought process behind this principle has provoked many great minds to view this as a moral issue. As the professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, George Robert McCormick states: “The principle to which I subscribe is one that says that all human beings are equal, and ought not to be harmed or considered to be less than human on the basis of age or size or stage of development or condition of dependency. . . . An embryo is not something distinct from a human being. It is a human being at the earliest stages of its development.” In order to create such an ideal society we must ask ourselves “Do we want to find the cure to the incurable diseases, or do we accept defeat by the countless diseases that keep spreading and taking lives'” As Michael Sandrel, Bass professor of government, Harvard University; member, President’s Council on Bioethics states “The fact that all persons were once blastocysts does not prove that all blastocysts are persons. This is faulty reasoning. The fact that every oak tree was once an acorn does not prove that every acorn is an oak tree. [Stem-cell research and therapeutic cloning are] a noble exercise of our human ingenuity to promote healing and to play our part in repairing the given world.” The reality of life is death, and everyone’s time will end, but through embryonic stem cell research we may be able to find a way for humans to live healthier and reduce the pain felt through incurable diseases. Annotated Bibliography: Zerhouni, E. (2003, May). Stem Cell Programs. Science. 300(5621), 911. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from the Ebsco database. Wagner, C. (2007, Jan/Feb). Values Conflicts in Stem-Cell Research. Futurist. 41(1), 8-9. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from the Ebsco database. Images: http://optimaltweezers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2009-05-03-stem-cells-graph-01-publications-per-year.png http://www.undertwilight.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/stem_cell_diagram.png