Term Paper on "Stem Cells as the California Dream"

Term Paper 5 pages (1662 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Stem Cell Research and the California Dream

The California Dream: Stem Cell Research in California Today

The thought of a disease-free future for mankind is a tantalizing thought indeed. Imagine a time when no one gets sick anymore. No more AIDS, no more cancer, no more measles, mumps, or even the common cold. Everyone lives happily on the earth in a state of robust and perpetual health. Even aging, long thought to be an inevitable by-product of getting older, is a thing of the past, with people routinely looking like they are in their 30s well into their 90s. Who would not want such a world? Advocates of stem cell research believe that this world is within our grasp. Stem cells, those almost magical foundation cells of tiny embryos that can become anything, are being hailed far and wide as the answer to all of mankind's medical problems. Research into the power of stem cells is already very promising and incredibly exciting. Yet there is a strong and vocal faction of people who are opposed not only to using stem cells to treat and heal disease, but are also opposed to any kind of research involving stem cells, due to the fact that embryos must be created and then destroyed in order to conduct the research. It is an ongoing debate, and California is at the forefront of it, with a governor that openly supports the research and a bevy of scientists eager to explore the possibilities that stem cells present. Stem cell research represents the "California dream" at its best instant and dramatic results to long-standing problems. The people of California largely support the issue, as well, perhaps more strongly than anywhere else in the nation. Why is stem cell research so compelling for Californians in particular, and what historical issues in California's evolution have lead to California leading the nation in stem cell research advocacy? This paper aims to explore these questions.

Whenever someone brings up stem cell research, especially in California, lurking behind the promising veils of the topic is the specter of eugenics, something that is most commonly associated with Adolph Hitler, but actually enjoyed a period of serious discussion in California. Eugenics refers to the idea of creating a "master race" of human beings, and the process of creating that race. Charles Goeth, a wealthy conservationist in California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pioneered eugenics in California. Goethe was enamored of the idea of creating a master race of humans, a race that would be strong, intelligent, and free of disease (Hall, 2005). In order to produce this race, Goethe wanted to apply animal breeding techniques to humans. Much like an animal breeder breeds his strongest, fastest, healthiest, and most physically beautiful animals together to produce superior offspring, so too did Goethe wish to breed strong, healthy, beautiful humans. Of course, Goethe's idea of what was the ideal human excluded nearly everyone who was not white and European (Hall, 2005).

While the concept of eugenics enjoyed some popularity for a time, that popularity was already waning by the time of Adolph Hitler and quickly disappeared for good after Hitler's disastrous attempts at creating a "master race" of Aryans and concurrently obliterating the Jews. As a result of the horror commonly felt at the thought of eugenics now, several landmarks in California that were named after Goethe have been re-named, in order to cover up California's association with Goethe and his ideas. But, despite this cover-up of history, the specter of eugenics is brought up every time stem cell research is mentioned in California. Though most people won't come out and say it, there is a general worry that stem cell research can be used to create "designer babies," babies that are genetically designed to specifications given by their parents, either through cloning or through manipulation of the child's DNA while still in the womb. Stem cell research certainly has the potential to make these things possible, and these possibilities make many uncomfortable.

In addition to the troubling shadow of eugenics, there are other issues involved in stem cell research. One of the most prominent of these is the issue of how stem cells are obtained. Normally, in order to obtain stem cells, a human embryo is created in the laboratory and then allowed to grow to only a few cells. The embryo is then destroyed and the stem cells harvested. Even though there is no legal or even scientific determination of when life begins, the thought of creating a human embryo, even if it is only a few cells with no discernible human traits, creates an enormous ethical problem for some, normally those on the so-called religious right. In order to combat this problem, scientists have been working on devising other ways to harvest stem cells. One such new way involves creating an embryo, allowing it to grow to eight cells, and then plucking one cell from it, while allowing the rest to go one developing normally. This sort of "cell plucking" has been done on at least two thousand babies in order to test for genetic defects. However, because the safety of such a procedure on a developing fetus and on the babies that are later born is not yet known, those who are opposed to stem cell research continue to raise ethical objections to this procedure (Stem Cell Sideshows, 2005).

Despite these problems encountered by proponents of stem cell research, Californians have overwhelmingly supported the research. In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 71, which funded a three billion dollar stem cell research program. It seemed from this that approval that Californians were eager to see what stem cell research could do. But special interests opposed to stem cell research have thus far prevented, through a series of lawsuits, any sort of research money from this initiative from actually going to scientists as of yet. For example, a current lawsuit is challenging the validity of the proposed new stem cell research institute Proposition 71 was to have funded. Because of this pending litigation, the California state treasurer has thus far been unable to sell any bonds to allow the institute to start handing out grants to scientists and hire staff for the institute (Vesely, 2005).

There is also the issue of intellectual property rights and how they would apply to stem cell research. After all, it would be difficult to claim intellectual property rights over a cell or an embryo, as these are not created by scientists from scratch and exist on their own in nature. However, there still needs to be some sort of process for protecting the intellectual property rights of those who make discoveries involving stem cell research. A current question in the debate is whether universities and individual researchers should be forced to share their stem cell discoveries with the public for free of if they should be allowed to patent and sell these ideas (Lagos, 2005). Some say that therapies and cures derived from stem cell research would reach the public more quickly if patents were allowed to be shared between researchers (Lagos, 2005).

Californians have always had free, independent spirits, and California has often lead the way in innovation in this country, be it scientific or social. The days of California being dominated and even run by Catholic monks and priests are now centuries in the past, and it is the secular spirit that moves most Californians today. This is why California is known as a progressive state, a liberal state, why California has universities that are always on the very cutting edge of innovation. Californians push the boundaries and are willing to go against the tide of the rest of the country in order to pursue their own beliefs of what is best for… READ MORE

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