A fetal stem cell is a cell taken from a fetus that has the ability to transform into any type of cell in the body. The goal of stem cell research is to find new ways to treat diseases that require the addition of healthy cells to the body. Pluripotent stem cells, which come from young embryos, and hematopoietic stem cells, which come from a newborn’s umbilical cord, are the two types of embryonic stem cells that are most commonly studied. Injuries and degenerative conditions, as well as burns and blood diseases, can all benefit from fetal stem cell treatment. The stem cell debate exists because some people are concerned that scientists will start creating fetuses solely for the purpose of harvesting fetal stem cells.
Pluripotent cells are thought to be among the most useful because they can transform into any type of cell in the body. These are usually taken from the inside of a few-day-old embryo, and they continue to divide while the embryo is still alive. Each division produces two additional cells, either fetal stem cells or organ-specific cells found in the liver, skin, or other parts of the body. After a baby is born, hematopoietic cells are extracted from the umbilical cord blood. Because fetal stem cells derived from cord blood are most likely to produce blood cells, their use is limited to treating blood diseases.
The goal of stem cell research is to find treatments for a variety of diseases by replacing damaged cells with new ones. Degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and arthritis, for example, may be treated with stem cells because they can replace the damaged cells. Stem cells can also be used to treat paralysis, injuries, and burns, and in some cases, they can even be used to regenerate new organ tissue. While hematopoietic cells are less commonly used in medicine, they can still be used to treat blood diseases like anemia and leukemia. As a result, it is now common practice to store cord blood after a baby’s birth so that it can be used in the future, either by the baby or by someone else suffering from a blood disease.
Because fetal stem cells are frequently taken from an aborted fetus, there is some debate about where they come from. As a result, opponents of abortion frequently oppose medical research, particularly when it is funded by the federal government. Fetal stem cells are sometimes extracted from extra embryos harvested for in vitro fertilization. While scientists argue that such embryos would be discarded anyway after the in vitro process, some people object to this source of fetal stem cells because they believe scientists will start creating embryos solely to harvest the stem cells.