Against 3 Debates 2009 School Carpe Diem

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name's Nicol Licanqueo, and I present the third speaker in the Opposition team.

Adult Stem Cell therapies have been in place since the 1940's in the form of bone marrow transplants – and have been very successful -but Embryonic Stem Cells are highly unstable and they have not been found as reliable and predictable as Adult Stem Cells. One major benefit Adult Stem Cells have over Embryonic Stem Cells is that Adult Stem Cells can be harvested by the patient, and can be implanted without the risk of rejection by the patient's body. This is not the case with Embryonic Stem Cells because these cells are harvested from embryo's outside of the relation to the patient.

• According to the New England Journal of Medicine only 50 to 75% of all human embryos survive development from freezing into a human being. The rest spontaneously abort, due either to "inborn errors" such as a genetic mutation or to problems implanting.
• Additionally, more cryogenic implant pregnancies spontaneously abort than result in the successful birth of a child. Even considering the conservative estimate of 50% nonviability, when working in a laboratory with an embryo, it is impossible to know from which 50% any particular embryo has been selected.
• If embryonic stem cells happen to come from the 50% of embryos that would have proven to be nonviable (if allowed to develop normally), then those same "inborn errors" will be transferred to the patient receiving the stem cells. Clearly, this would cause more harm than good.

With this information, it is easy to understand the science behind the spontaneous rejection of Embryonic Stem Cells.They transform and change into entities the human body does not recognize. For example, Embryonic Stem Cells have a tendency to form “Teratomas,” which is a cancerous mass that appears as Embryonic Stem Cells reproduce upon themselves.

However, this problem is eliminated with Adult Stem Cells because of their tendency towards specialization. Adult Stem Cells pulled from a heart can only turn into a cell of the heart. This eliminates the tendency of the cells to spontaneously reproduce into something foreign, or cancerous. In short, they are safer, and more reliable – and they can be cloned or reproduced to cure diseases that involve tissue damage or organ loss.

To conclude, Adult Stem Cells have the capability of curing many diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and spinal cord injury, without the risk of rejection. Additionally, they are safe guarded against the formation of “teratomas” because they do not spontaneously reproduce to the extent of Embryonic Stem Cells. The safer, and smarter choice is to continue with the science of Adult Stem Cells and eliminate the cost and risk associated with Embryonic Stem Cells.