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I/GCSE Biology - Stem Cells

The advantages and disadvantages of stem cells

July 19, 2021

Advantages 👍👍

For all stem cells,

  • replace faulty cell with healthy cell, so the person is well again

For embryonic Stem Cells,

  • easy to extract from embryo
  • can produce any type of cell

For adult Stem Cells,

  • no embryo is destroyed so not an ethical issue
  • if taken from the person to be treated, will not cause rejection by the body

Disadvantages 👎👎

For all stem cells,

  • may produce cancer cells instead of healthy cells

For embryonic Stem Cells, 

  • embryo destroyed when cells removed - some people think embryos have a right to live
  • body recognises the cells as 'different' and will reject them without the use of drugs
For adult Stem Cells,
  • (Adult Stem Cells) difficult to find and extract from tissue
  • (Adult Stem Cells) produce only a few types of cell

Evaluation

In I/GCSE Biology, overall both embryonic and adult stem cells replace the faulty cell with a healthy cell, so the person is well again. They also both may produce a cancer cell instead of a healthy one, which is a risk.

 

Embryonic stem cells are easy to extract from the embryo and can produce any type of cell, but the downside of using embryonic stem cells is that the embryo is destroyed when the cell is removed, this is an ethical issue because some people believe that embryos have a right to live. The body also recognises the cells as 'different' and will reject them without the use of drugs.

 

With adult stem cells the embryo is not destroyed, so it isn't an ethical issue. If the adult stem cell is taken from the person to be treated, it will not cause rejection in the body. However adult stem cells are difficult to find and extract from the tissue and can only produce a few types of cell.

That's the end of the topic!

Drafted by Joey (Biology)