Stem Cells

By Chanah Park

Cypress High School

In 2020, the California Proposition 14 was placed on the ballot. If Proposition 14 was approved, $5.5 billion would go towards stem cell research at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. More importantly, Prop 14 would establish stem cell research as a constitutional right in the state of California. Although this proposition was approved, it was only done so by a small margin. According to Ballotpedia, 51.09% voted yes in support of the proposition and 48.91% voted no. I believe that this proposition should have passed by a landslide.

The topic of stem cell research has always been quite polarizing. Many people believe it to be unethical while others believe that the benefits outweigh the costs. Eugene Park, a freshman from Cypress High School, and Leah K., a student at UCLA, both believe the latter. It is important to understand the types of stem cells there are before taking a stance in this debate. The four main types of stem cells are embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and finally amniotic and umbilical cord stem cells. The harvesting of adult stem cells and amniotic/ umbilical cord stem cells are not widely debated. The main dissupport for stem cell research has always been because of the use of embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, ESCs, are harvested by taking a human embryo after fertilization. For those that believe that human life starts at fertilization, they view the harvesting of ESCs as murder. However, these embryos are created through in vitro fertilization that were never implanted in a uterus. In vitro fertilization is when a sperm and an egg cell are combined outside the human body to create an embryo. Although people may still see this as killing an unborn person, I perceive the harvesting of this specific type of stem cells as ethical because they were lab-grown and created with the intent of being used as ESCs. Moreover, not all stem cell research is conducted using ESCs and a large part of it is done using the other types.

For those that are still on the fence of the need for stem cell research funding and its ethicality, it is important to take into consideration why stem cell research is even needed in the first place. Stem cells were groundbreaking when first discovered because they are undifferentiated cells. This means that they are able to become any kind of cell in the body whether that be a neuron in the brain or a cell in your calf muscle. Scientists are excited about these stem cells because their pluripotency allows for many things. One of the many include potential repair of damaged tissue. The other possible result, that I personally think is the most amazing, is that scientists can watch, for example, a heart cell grow and mature to better understand how diseases develop. This way, we will have a more thorough understanding of disease formation as well as overall cell growth. Lastly, stem cells are also taking part in more groundbreaking research with the newest one being 3-dimensional printing. Many scientists hope to use stem cells to 3D print cells of the body, such as heart muscle cells, while some dream even bigger to be able to print whole organs which would change the face of organ transplantation.