The Safety of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

This article can be found at http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2010/10/12/spinal_cord_patient_gets_first_embryonic_stem_cell_treatment/

    Another story here on embryonic stem cells. The story here marks a huge stepping stone in stem cell research—this is the first patient to ever undergo stem cell treatment. Right from the lead, the writer Rob Stein establishes the context of this article. It is not about the scientific details of stem cell science, but rather about the controversial nature of the research: the ethical concerns and fears going into testing stem cell treatments. As Stein puts it in the first paragraph, the treatment of this patient marks “the beginning of the first carefully designed attempt to test the promising but controversial therapy.”
    And he goes on to give equal attention to both sides. He provides quotations from scientists both in favor of pushing the research further and concerned about the “long-term safety” of stem cell treatment. The second half of the article wisely discusses what has been done already in terms of safety. He also throws in an example from a decade ago about a “death from a gene therapy experiment.” But inevitably, as is always the case in medical research, proposed treatments, even after significant study and animal testing, must be tested on humans. How else can we know whether or not it works? And that’s the dilemma that is at work right now in the field of embryonic stem cell research. Will the benefits outweigh the potential costs?