Caitlin N Harvesting Stem Cells Period 3 #12

1. Harvesting Stem Cells Caitlin Capri Neier Period 3 Stem Cell DNA

2. Basic Principles of Genetics How are traits controlled by dominant and alleles? A trait can be controlled by a recessive allele only if the organism does not have the dominant allele. How are traits controlled with co-dominant alleles? In co-dominant alleles, the alleles are neither dominant or recessive. Explain how the alleles of two parents combine to express traits in offspring? Genetics use Punnet squares to show all the possible outcomes of a genetic cross and to determine the probability of a particular outcome.

3. Human Genome Project When did the project start and how did scientists hope to use this information ( what were the goals in the beginning)? The Human Genome Project started in 1990. Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was a 13- year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. During the early years of the HGP, the Welcome Trust (U.K) became a major partner; additional contributions came from Japan, France, Germany, China, and others. Project goals were to: -identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA, -determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, - store this information in databases, -improve tools for data analysis, -transfer related technologies to the private sector, and -address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. What are the implications of the Human Genome Project in regards to Ethical, legal, and Social implications: -Ethical implications was your opinion and reproductive issues. -Social implications was fairness in the use of genetic information, privacy, and confidentiality Psychological impact and stigmatization ect. GINA protects Americans from discrimination based on information from genetic test. It forbids insurance companies from discriminating through reduced coverage or pricing.

5. Genetic Disorder Compare and contrast the three different types of genetic disorders: 1.) Single Gene Disorder -Any genetic disorder caused by a change affecting only one gene. There are thousands of single-gene diseases including achondroplasia, Cystic fibrosis, Hemophilia, Huntington disease, Muscular dystrophy, and sickle cell disease. 2.) Chromosome abnormalities : Down Syndrome is a chromosal disorder that results in the presence of an additional third chromosome 21. about 1 in 150 babies in the United States is born with a chromosal abnonormilty (2). These abnormalities are caused by errors in the number or structure of chromosomes. Many children with a chromosal abnormality have mental and/ or physical birth defects. Some chromosomal abnormalities result in miscarriage or still birth. Each person has 23 pairs of chromosomes, or 46 in all. We inherit one chromosome per pair from our mother and one from our father. Sometimes something goes wrong before fertilization. An egg or sperm cell may divide in correctly, resulting in a egg or sperm with too many or two few chromosomes, when this cell with the wrong number of chromosomes joins with a normal egg or sperm the resulting embryo has a chromosomal abnormality. A common type of chromosal abnormality is called trisomy. This means that an individual has three copies of a specific chromosome, instead of 2. for example, individuals with down syndrome generally have three copies of chromosome 21.

7. Argument 1: One of the pro of Embryonic Stem Cell Research is that scientists are learning how we are made up or formed and they are trying to reverse problems in this stage such as cancer and birth defects. Another pro is scientists believe they can learn how to develop organs such as the heart or lungs. If they could do this, the organs they developed could be used to test new drugs on, to find out which one were safe and which ones were not. Also every day there are thousands of people on the organ donor list and very few organs. If scientists were able to engineer organs then everyone who needs one could get it.

8. Argument 2 Another pro is that scientists are learning how to grow tissues to use for medical research. If they keep studying and progressing as they are they will possibly be able to cure illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s diseases spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

9. Argument 3 The debate at the Heart of the issue is when does the human life begin. Opponents of the research on Embryonic Stem Cell believe embryos are human beings with the same rights that we have, and with the same rights that we have, and destroying those embryos is destroying human life. Supporters of Embryonic Stem Cell Research says that a week old blastocysts (embryos) are not human beings and that destroying those embryos does not constitute killing. The Catholic Church put out a booklet on Stem Cell Research. “ No commitment to a hoped- for greater good can erase or diminish the wrong of directly taking innocent human lives here and now.” “ In fact, policies undermining our respect for human life can only endanger the vulnerable patients that Stem-Cell research offers to help. The same ethic that justifies taking some lives to help the patient with heredity Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease today can be used to sacrifice that very patient tomorrow.”

10. Argument 4 Now I would like to show some of the reason people are against Stem Cell Research. If we are able to reverse problems such as birth defects we are now playing God. If we start to fix something that is caused by nature, where do we stop. Who decides when the fixing has gone to far. If scientists are able to cure diseases when does a person die a natural death. People could live longer, we would need more food, more space. One of the options for Embryonic Stem Cell Research is to use aborted pregnancies or InVetro Fertilization embryos because they are going to be discarded anyway. Some argue if an adult does not give consent to be an organ donor, states do not presume the right to use that person’s organs for transplantation, even if the person is dead. The state would not instruct researchers in how to kill him by harvesting his organs while he is still alive. So in this case the developing human embryos cannot give consent to be sacrificed so the state should not promote that sacrifice either.

11. Conclusion In conclusion while I think that the possibilities of curing certain diseases is a good thing by using Embryonic Stem Cells it is also a bad thing to destroy human embryos to do this. I feel more research is needed in Adult Stem Cells because while scientist initially thought that using Adult Stem Cells wasn’t as good as Embryonic Stem Cells. Some scientists believe they could be. Also, they should use umbilical cords Stem Cells because they are not destroying human life.

12. Works Cited http://www.nccbuscc.org/profile/programs/rlp//01usal.shtml http://www.americancatholic.org/ news/ stemcell/ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,31748,00.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_controversy