Stem Cell Research, the phrase has divided a nation. On one hand you have people who believe it will lead to more abortions so that stem cells can be harvested and on the other hand you have those that believe that stem cell research may lead to cures for many illnesses. Are either one of these groups correct? Unfortunately given the way the world operates, both groups may be correct. Wait a second, a second source of stem cells has been discovered and that comes from bone marrow, the marrow of the person with the illness. Nothing is ever easy, I learned this lesson a long time ago. It turns out that stem cells can also come from baby teeth and umbilical cords and because the cells are so young, they can divide many more times, making them the prime candidates for stem cell research.

What makes stem cells so valuable? Stem cells can form into many different kinds of cells. Scientists are convinced that they can replace many different types of damaged tissue with cells cultured from stem cells. Some scientists believe that we have not tapped the potential in adult stem cells and that it may turn out that they will be every bit as useful as embryonic stem cells. This has yet to be proven. It also seems that the potential implied by stem cell research is just still that, potential. Many of the people you talk to on this subject feel very strongly one way or the other and it is a topic best to be avoided socially, unless you want to disrupt the party you are at.

All is not rosy on the stem cell front. When a scientist is culturing a group of stem cells, he must make sure that all the cells from an embryonic group are fully differentiated into specialized cells. When they are not, the remaining cells are apt to cause tumors and indeed this has happened in lab animals many times. The problem is much worse for embryonic stem cells because they grow so fast. Just growing the tissue, as hard as it is to do, is only part of the problem. Think of it this way, you want to repair damaged tissue in someone's brain, You grow stem cells into the correct tissue making sure that every single cell was transformed correctly into the type needed. Next you inject it into the brain and the brain has to "wire it up". A daunting task indeed.

It is said that embryonic stem cells can grow indefinitely under the right conditions. In the future a person may pay a company to keep his or her stem cells on hand for him for his or her entire life and they would be used to repair damage to their body. This is assuming that stem cells reach their potential. If a way could be found to end the controversy over stem cell research it would go a long way in giving us the potential to provide new cures. If the adult stem cells from one's own body can be made to perform on the level of embryonic stem cells the entire conflict might just fade away, after all there would be no reason for it anymore.

Since baby teeth contain stem cells and these cells remain alive for a time after the teeth fall out, they can be used as an important source of stem cells that are equivalent to embryonic stem cells. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "tooth fairy". Indeed the teeth could be sent to lab which might pay a small amount for their purchase. Using this type of source for the coveted cells would take some of the pressure off of having to use those dreaded embryonic cells.

So what is this all about? Well, maybe the true fact is that companies in this country and elsewhere, don't want to give up the availability of embryonic research because they know that other companies in other countries will continue to do it and beat them to a valuable treatment worth much money. I know I sound like a skeptic here, but everything done by these companies boils down to the almighty buck, so why would this be any different?

The problem with the stem cell argument is that many of those against it are citing erroneous data and many of those for it are also doing the same. First of all many of those against it say that there is no difference between embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. This is not true as we have said, embryonic stem cells grow much faster since they are younger. Some of those people that are for it state that it is a great cure for many illnesses when, it is yet to even be proven. So what is the answer to all this? Maybe we can figure out a way to solve the problem by taking stem cells from each baby born and culture and save them. That way if they are needed in the future, for that person, they will be available, but before we do this, we first have to prove that such a treatment works and be able to culture these cells into different organs and tissue. If we can accomplish this, then stem cells will have proven their potential and things will become better, medically, for all of us.