August 9th was a big day for our country and what the future will hold for stem cell research. "The U.S. conducts more than 90% of the world's biomedical research, with this decision to not fund all stem cell research we will most likely fall behind the world in this type of research." (Arnst 88) This issue is the first of many that will arise about what this country thinks is moral and right. Stem cell research is an extremely controversial issue that most of us have either a strong position for or against. We have all heard different facts as to what will happen in the future with science and if this is the first step into gene engineering. I will talk about the facts, give you some history of what stem cell research is, tell you what President George W. Bush's decision means to this country, what the future holds for stem cell research, and my thoughts about what stem cell research could possible lead to.
             First off here are what stem cells are and how they are made and retrieved. Stem cells are the first cells created in an embryo just days after the joining of an egg and sperm. What is unique about stem cells is they are blank slates that can be transformed into hundreds of tissue types. Most of our cells, after a few weeks old, have a plan of what they are to do; they can form our organs, bone, skin, brain, and all of the other properties that each human has to function. These stem cells don't have a function or a plan, yet. After the sperm fertilizes an egg, the resulting embryo begins dividing into genetically identical cells. After several days, the fertilized egg has grown into a ball of uniform cells. By four days, the cells have formed a blastocyst, which is a mass of stem cells surrounded by an outer ring that eventually develops into the placenta. Scientists would then extract the stem cells and grow them further in the lab. The stem cells could be turned into specialized cell...