I particularly believe in doing stem cell research. Why? Because it has a lot of benefits, and has a lot of potential to do a lot of good with treating/curing diseases and can help to treat a lot of diseases/illnesses now, so why not research it more and see what other benefits can come of it.
Some of the pros and cons (including some of the diseases/illnesses) are listed below. (Information obtained from: http://www.experiment-resources.com/stem-cell-pros-and-cons.html).
"Pros:
Stem cell research can potentially help treating a range of medical problems. It could lead humanity closer to better treat and possibly cure a number of diseases:
* Parkinson’s Disease
* Alzheimer’s Disease
* Heart Diseases, Stroke and Diabetes (Type 1)
* Birth Defects
* Spinal Cord Injuries
* Replace or Repair Damaged Organs
* Reduced Risk of Transplantation (You could possibly get a copy of your own heart in a heart-transplantation in the future
* Stem cells may play a major role in cancer
Better treatment of these diseases could also give significant social benefits for individuals and economic gains for the society.
Cons
* "We should not mess with human life."
* "Humans should not be trying to play God"
* Some argue that stem cell research in the far future can lead to knowledge on how to clone humans. It is hard to say whether this is true, but we have seen devastating consequences of other research-programs, even with good intentions, such as nuclear research."
Now just from the list above in the 'pro' section, around eight (8) different illnesses can be helped/treated. Now some people may be worried about the methods used in this process.
Listed below is some of the methods before 2007 (including a disclaimer) is listed below.
"DISCLAIMER:
These points are based on the old debate about the methods of stem cells research, from before 2007. Since then, scientists have moved on to use more ethically methods for stem cell research, such as iPS. This section serves as an illustration of the difficult evaluations researchers may have to analyze.
Pros before 2007
* "The benefits of stem cell research has such a great outcome, that it outweighs the ethical issues." (Cost-benefit-analysis)
* "If someone is going to have an abortion, isn’t it better that we use it for something useful?"
* Adult stem cells would not be that interesting because they do not have the same properties as stem cells from a fetus.
* The research would give great insights about basics of the body.
Cons before 2007
* Critics against stem cell research, argued that the ethical issues of scientific work on aborted fetuses did not justify the possible benefits
* "A life is a life and that should never be compromised. A fertilized egg should be valued as a human life even if it is in its very first weeks. Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical."
* We should (and will) develop more ethical methods (such as using adult stem cells) which will enable us to research ethically. We should wait to those methods are available.
* The scientific value has been overstated or has flaws. E.g. we do not know for sure that we can use stem cells to clone organs to be transplanted to oneself."
(Information obtained from http://www.experiment-resources.com/stem-cell-pros-and-cons.html).
In my opinion, since we have have a bit of people that are (legally) having abortions in the USA, we can start there and work our way up with using those stem cells. As long as stem cells are gained and used in a humane and safe manor and used for good, I 100% believe that stem cell research should be used to our advantage instead of being fought.