Woman Gets New Windpipe from Her Own Stem Cells

What you are about to read is something that you may not hear on your local news station, for whatever the reason. Stem cell research has stated that the most powerful stem cells come from newly fertilized zygotes. I consider these new original cells to be a part of its own body and not the mothers, though I do believe the mother ‘houses’ the child. The great debate has been with those that believe as I do, and those who want to use the cells in the name of science and life saving.

But adults are capable of producing stem cells too. The doctors of a woman in Spain recently used her own stem cells to grown a windpipe. You can find the complete news article on this event by clicking the link. Claudia Castillo, a 30 year old woman, succeeded in using her own adult stem cells to save her life. Why it is that everyone but America gets the point?

Castillo was suffering from a collapsed trachea that occurred after a long struggle with bronchitis. After doing a graft of her cells, doctors were able to coach the cells into growing and the team was well on its way to producing a new windpipe, without using cells from newly formed zygotes.

The whole debate over stem cell research has hung in the air for years. Pro life groups have clashed with scientist and doctors who believe that the mass of cells in its mother’s body is just that and nothing more. I feel that this research will not change the minds or attitudes of the scientific community. I feel that they will raise objections to using the “less potent” adult stem cells. There is room, however, for scientist to change their minds. In light of this new development, hopefully they will see that zygote stem cells are not the only stem cells that are strong enough to grow into organs.

I pose this question to you, why do you think American scientist and doctors have been so opposed to a procedure and a method that clearly works? Do you think that this woman’s new windpipe grown from her own stem cells will be enough to convince them, thereby ending the argument over stem cell research, or will the fight continue?
All I hope is that the debate ends favorably and soon. The longer the debate lasts, the more lives we loose.