Steven Falls
Web Editor

Fourteen students and faculty from the University of La Verne gathered last week for a presentation on the possibilities of human embryonic stem cell research and a lecture by Jerome Garcia, assistant professor of biology at ULV.

The talk focused on how stem cell research could help the people now and in the future.

“We could be helping thousands to millions of people,” Garcia said.

Although it is widely believed that stem cell research can provide information and eventually cures to many debilitating or deadly diseases, many religious groups object to the research on moral grounds, believing that embryos for medical and research purposes should be unacceptable.

“The major argument…is that (embryos) have moral status and the rights of a human being,” Garcia said.

Garcia then compared stem cell research to the abortion issue. Abortion, although legal, is widely frowned upon by some religious groups. Garcia, who is Catholic and pro-life, said he believes abortion is acceptable only if the fetus would be harming the mother, or the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape.

While some pro-lifers see stem cell research as akin to abortion, Garcia and others believe that it has the potential to be so helpful that the research should go forward because of it’s potential to cure serious illness.

Jefferey Burkhart, professor of biology at La Verne, believes stem cell research should not be compared to abortion.

“I really see no problem (with stem cell research) personally,” Burkhart said. “They are just a cluster of unorganized eggs and it is certainly less invasive than is abortion –  which is legal.”

Kenneth Marcus, history and political science professor at ULV, also believes in the potential results culminating from stem cell research.

“Anything that can help curb diseases like diabetes or Parkinson's or any other disease, for that matter, is a good thing,” Marcus said.

Since the last presidential election, during which stem cell research was widely debated, many people have begun to associate stem cell research with human cloning, which Garcia explained is wrong.

Stem cell research uses cells, which are pluripotents which means they have only the ability to form tissue cells. In the case of human cloning, other cells described as totipotents are used, which have the ability to turn into either organ or tissue cells.

The potential medical applications of stem cell research include fertility in which "bad" genes can be altered to prevent a fetus from contracting genetic diseases passed down from ancestors. Others include possible solutions for heart disease and diabetes, which affect 13 million and 16 million Americans, respectively.

Although government funded research is limited, Garcia said there is an existing private sector with interest in these human embryonic stem cells.

“The private sector is continuing research,” Garcia said. “But there are many problems when it comes to dealing with private research.”

In the private sector, biases exist and access to data and information gathered from research may be unavailable. With no government oversight, the credibility and the effectiveness of the research may be questionable, Garcia said.

Garcia said he is supportive of embryonic stem cell research for its potential to cure disease.

“We could be helping a lot of people in this country,” Garcia said.

Garcia's lecture was one of many new Hot Spots series lectures to come in the future.

Steven Falls can be reached at sfalls21@msn.com.