Stem Cell Research and Technology - Essay Example

Stem cells and Ethics Throughout the of time, mankind has progressed and in order to make this progress he used tools. From rocks to bows, everything served a purpose in man’s advancement culturally, socially and scientifically. Even today, mankind relies on tools to make advancements and one such tool that can be deemed as nothing less than boon in the field of medicine is that of stem cell technology. This certain tool, has given man the potential of doing something that was even a few decades back only theoretically possible. However, like most scientific discoveries, stem cell technology has also not been accepted by everyone equally. The most unacceptable part of this tool is that it interferes with the ethical code of man but somewhere it must be believed that a balance can be maintained if both the science and the ethics of stem cells research is considered impartially. Within the scientific world, stem cells have been embraced with enthusiasm since they open opportunities unto man that was beyond imagination and is capable of doing wonders. From allowing cells to repair and construct new organs to helping patients suffering from degeneration diseases, from regenerative medicine to research in the fields of developmental biology, toxicology etc and in tissue replacement surgeries (Watt & Hogan,2000) stem cells has numerous application that if utilized and directed appropriately would help man solve a number of health problems as well as understand the working of the human body at a whole new level. However, in spite of so many positive features of the cell technology there is an unwanted and unethical link associated with it. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that maintain their developmental potential to form trophoblast and all kinds of germs layers (Thomson et al,1998) but the problem lies with the origin of these stem cells. The most efficient stem cells are the embryonic stem cells that is derived from the human fetus and is capable of much more efficient differentiation that adult-derived stem cells. The main concern here is that in order to extract the stem cells from the embryo, the embryo needs to be destroyed and since the embryo holds ethical importance, the entire technology has not gained the momentum that it should have had. Stem cell research offers plenty of therapeutic promises and even though it is derived from embryos that have been destroyed one should keep in mind that the cells would help someone gain a life too. It is true that a 5-day embryo is destroyed in order to allow extraction and isolation the stem cells and some people believe that this destruction is on equal footing as “murder” since it means the destruction of a human being. The greater perspective here is that whether a 5-day old embryo which microscopically is just a ball of cells, should be termed as an “human being” or not. People who do not like the idea of the destruction of fetuses think that a human being is formed as soon as post-fertilization a one-celled zygote implants itself in the uterus. However, if we consider the science behind the 5-day old embryo, we would see that it is nothing but a bundle of cells that have not yet differentiated and do not even coordinate enough to function well and needs to multiply more to attain the status of a coordinated and regulated system (Smith & Brogard,2003) and hence we cannot scientifically state that a bundle of cells is an entire human. Therefore, it can be said that even though this technology requires destruction of embryos, these embryos are not older than 5-days and do not have any organs or tissues and hence one must reconsider before stating that it is “killing of a human”. Another closely related concern that comes is that for stem cell technology cloning is normally done and cloning itself has ethical issues especially since it interferes with natural processes and is a process where man is believed to play “God” and hence is not well accepted. But here again we must remember that everyday infertile couples, homosexual couples go in for fertilization treatment where more than one embryos are artificially created for the sole purpose of reproduction and if the same is done for a therapeutic approach, one should not have problems since it is the same technology that has been utilized. Another major ethical concern associated with this is the origin of these cells is that in order to meet the demand for stem cells for research embryo cloning is being performed for which egg is harvested from young women. This is primarily a health issue for women because in most cases in order to harvest eggs from the ovary, stimulation of the organ is done using drugs which might have harmful effects on the health of the woman. This is might gradually become an ethical concern if commercialization of the entire process begins (Beeson & Lippman,2006). If the women are paid to give up eggs then ethical concerns may be raised. This may happen especially in the poor countries where most people may do anything from trafficking to selling organs to raise money and if commercialization is not reigned in the problem may become a global problem. However, keeping in terms with all ethics basically stem cells are supposed to be taken from embryos that have either been rejected or donated for research purpose. This process where embryos are rejected or are given up by couples who undergo in vitro fertilizations maybe taken as ethical since it is not a forced extraction and that it has no harmful effects on anyone whatsoever. Moreover, in case a couple do not want to store an embryo the embryo would land up as biomedical waste and in such a scenario if the embryo is utilized by researchers to extract stem cells and create an organ that may help a dying child gain one more chance at life then the destruction of the unused embryo cannot be deemed murderous or unethical at all since here the very rejection of the embryo spells out doom on its fate whilst research is nothing more than the medium of this destruction (Green,2002). Yes, it is true that laws must inhibit exploitation of procurement of embryos and allow research on only those embryos that have been disposed, rejected or donated. Stem cell research and technology is a boon to mankind. With its help man would find answers to a number of his unanswered queries. It is true that some aspects of the technology have been termed unethical but one must look at the bigger picture and understand the need of such a technology in our lives. If we compare the smile of a mother on seeing her child gain more time to live, the tears of joy of a wife on seeing her husband come back from the jaws of death, the relief of children on seeing their mother or father being transplanted with a new liver or kidney or just see life smile back at death with the help of stem cells advancement to the destruction of a 5-day feeling less, emotionless, senseless mass of cells, the ethical concerns associated with the latter becomes extremely minute. If the laws are abided by and commercialization is controlled and the embryos are taken legally and from socially acceptable sources, I believe that this technology would be considered a boon by one and all. REFERENCES Beeson, Diane, and Abby Lippman. "Egg harvesting for stem cell research: medical risks and ethical problems." Reproductive Biomedicine Online (2006): n. pag. Print. Green, R. "Benefiting from Evil:An incipient moral problem in human stem cell reserach."Bioethics 16.6 (2002): 544-56. Print. Holland, Suzanne, Karen Lebacqz, and Laurie Zoloth. The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2001. Print. Smith, Barry, and Berit Brogaard. "Sixteen Days." Journal of Medicine and Philosophy28 (2003): n. pag. Print. Thomson, James A., Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor, Sander S. Shapiro, Michelle A. Waknitz, Jennifer J. Swiergiel, Vivienne S. Marshall, and Jeffrey M. Jones. "Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts." Science (1998): n. pag. Print. Watt, Fiona M., and Brigid L. Hogan. "Out of Eden: Stem Cells and Their Niches." Science287 (2000): 1427-1428. Print. Read More