Many patients, and their families, who are affected by conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, for which stem cell research offers a reason for hope, find themselves wanting to encourage future research. Despite the federal ban on government of funding embryonic stem cell research, the research itself is not illegal when funded privately. People can also donate their stem cells for scientific research – women can donate blood from umbilical chords, and couples with unused embryos from fertility clinics may donate those embryos to scientists.

The debate over stem cell research is likely to continue for a long time to come. This, however, does not mean that research will stall. Countries outside of the US who have different policies about embryonic research continue to conduct experiments and attempt to generate healthy cells. Stem cell research potentially opens the door to even more issues of medical ethics, like designer babies and cloning, but at the same time, the ability to generate healthy brain cells in a laboratory that could replace brain cells damaged by Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia offers hope to some families struggling with the devastating effect of these diseases.

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