No 30

(Stem Cell Research)

This topic is gaining supporters as well as critics in the news. Stem cells are like little factories – they produce all of the 220 other cell types in the body; they could even be called generic cells. Once the human egg is fertilized, its starts to divide itself; this process is called mitosis and continues into adulthood. The end result is a human body that contains 10 trillion (10,000,000,000) cells. Stem cells are extremely complex and science does not know how they function but they do know that they are capable of developing into muscle cells, bone cells, nerve cells, etc, etc.

Scientists have been able to recognize 3 types of these cells: totipotent, pluripotent and multipotent. Totipotent stem cells, as the name suggests, are able to develop into any of the 220 cells types that the body requires; unfortunately, they exist only a few days following conception. The next kind of stem cell is pluripotent and they are capable of developing into hands, feet, digestive systems and like totipotent cells, they don’t last long either. The last kind is multipotent and unlike its predecessors, they continue to produce cells into late adulthood.

Now here is the crux of the matter – science wants research and eventually, according to them, produce totipotent cells to cure people with multiple sclerosis, with Parkinson’s disease, with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lew Gehrig’s disease), with diabetes and other incurable diseases but, as we have seen, these cells can only be obtained in the first few days of conception. In order to provide this type of stem cell, life has to be initiated in a test tube and abruptly aborted; this is the main stumbling block for stem cell research. Christians cannot condone this and the governments are trying to deal with this very sensitive matter. God gave us the ability to initiate life; let’s not abuse this wonderful privilege. “O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” Psalm 104:24. May we have the wisdom of the Lord to stop this!