The Ethical Dilemnas of Stem Cell Research>

Ron Reagan’s speech at the Democratic Convention last night was carefully nonpartisan. He never mentioned any of the candidates by name, and he ended his talk with the plea to cast a vote for stem cell research. Ron Reagan imagines a time when you could go to the doctor, have some of your own cells harvested – say, from your arm – where they could be cultured and grown into any sort of cell with your own DNA and injected into areas that need replacing (such as brain cells for Parkinson’s, bone marrow for leukemia, etc). He called this possibility "what may be the greatest medical breakthrough in our, or any, lifetime" and exhorted Americans to choose between "reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology."

As far as I can tell, the science has not yet developed to the point where stem cells can actually be coaxed from cells in your arm. Stem cells are "unspecialized" cells that have the ability to generate healthy new cells, tissues and organs – at this point, it seems they are taken from the very early stages of the human embryo – long before any nervous system, heart or heartbeat, brainwaves, and so on. Pluripotent stem cells are isolated from human embryos that are only a few days old – studying them helps us understand how they are able to differentiate themselves into any kind of cell needed in the body. Previous cell lines were created from the "discards" of fertility treatments and from cells combined specifically for the purpose, and from what I can tell, it is also possible to use umbilical cord cells (which would be a great way!).

I’m not sure that I understand all the ehtical issues involved at this point – but I certainly do believe that this research is important enough for there to be a real national debate about it.