Ethics For Health Care: Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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Ethics for Healthcare: Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Stem cell research is a huge advancement in the field of biotechnology to know the differentiation process in all human beings. Along with that, it is a great way to understand treatment to different diseases like heart attack, cancer, Parkinson diseases etc. although the method is quite useful when it comes to treatment of various diseases at the same time, this particular field is facing many ethical and political controversies. People who are completely against of this process claim that developing embryos for the only purpose of research and then destroying them is a violation of respect for human life. Even those who support the idea of stem cell research are against the idea of creating embryos for research purposes. Other ethical concern is the birth of genetically defective humans because it is not always necessary that the desired genes express themselves all the time so there are chances that they will be silent which further results in the birth of defective individuals ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"UIGs2Gah","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lo & Parham, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Lo & Parham, 2009)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":543,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/MLNK3GR6"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/MLNK3GR6"],"itemData":{"id":543,"type":"article-journal","title":"Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research","container-title":"Endocrine Reviews","page":"204-213","volume":"30","issue":"3","source":"PubMed Central","abstract":"Stem cell research offers great promise for understanding basic mechanisms of human development and differentiation, as well as the hope for new treatments for diseases such as diabetes, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, and myocardial infarction. However, human stem cell (hSC) research also raises sharp ethical and political controversies. The derivation of pluripotent stem cell lines from oocytes and embryos is fraught with disputes about the onset of human personhood. The reprogramming of somatic cells to produce induced pluripotent stem cells avoids the ethical problems specific to embryonic stem cell research. In any hSC research, however, difficult dilemmas arise regarding sensitive downstream research, consent to donate materials for hSC research, early clinical trials of hSC therapies, and oversight of hSC research. These ethical and policy issues need to be discussed along with scientific challenges to ensure that stem cell research is carried out in an ethically appropriate manner. This article provides a critical analysis of these issues and how they are addressed in current policies.","DOI":"10.1210/er.2008-0031","ISSN":"0163-769X","note":"PMID: 19366754\nPMCID: PMC2726839","journalAbbreviation":"Endocr Rev","author":[{"family":"Lo","given":"Bernard"},{"family":"Parham","given":"Lindsay"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009",5]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lo & Parham, 2009).

As embryonic stem cells are considered an efficient way for the treatment of a variety of diseases but due to its controversial nature, it is banned in most countries. Therefore, now the scientists are focusing on other alternative options which are adult and placental embryonic stem cells. Although all of these have their differences and similarities, embryonic stem cells are considered more efficient method due to its totipotency. They can develop into any organ or tissue, but the adult stem cells are not pluripotent, that means that they can develop only into their original organ or source. Although placental stem cells are providing a non-controversial and efficient method therefore sufficient research needs to be done in this field to develop further advancements ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ALNZQlZV","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Matikainen & Laine, 2005)","plainCitation":"(Matikainen & Laine, 2005)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":546,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/UEM4FDCD"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/UEM4FDCD"],"itemData":{"id":546,"type":"article-journal","title":"Placenta--an alternative source of stem cells","container-title":"Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology","page":"544-549","volume":"207","issue":"2 Suppl","source":"PubMed","abstract":"The two most promising practical applications of human stem cells are cellular replacement therapies in human disease and toxicological screening of candidate drug molecules. Both require a source of human stem cells that can be isolated, purified, expanded in number and differentiated into the cell type of choice in a controlled manner. Currently, uses of both embryonic and adult stem cells are investigated. While embryonic stem cells are pluripotent and can differentiate into any specialised cell type, their use requires establishment of embryonic stem cell lines using the inner cell mass of an early pre-implantation embryo. As the blastocyst is destroyed during the process, ethical issues need to be carefully considered. The use of embryonic stem cells is also limited by the difficulties in growing large numbers of the cells without inducing spontaneous differentiation, and the problems in controlling directed differentiation of the cells. The use of adult stem cells, typically derived from bone marrow, but also from other tissues, is ethically non-controversial but their differentiation potential is more limited than that of the embryonic stem cells. Since human cord blood, umbilical cord, placenta and amnion are normally discarded at birth, they provide an easily accessible alternative source of stem cells. We review the potential and current status of the use of adult stem cells derived from the placenta or umbilical cord in therapeutic and toxicological applications.","DOI":"10.1016/j.taap.2005.01.039","ISSN":"1096-0333","note":"PMID: 15990135","journalAbbreviation":"Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol.","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Matikainen","given":"Tiina"},{"family":"Laine","given":"Jarmo"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2005",9,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Matikainen & Laine, 2005).

Right now embryonic stem cells research is banned in the United States due to the stir that it created, no funding is available to support this program. The president banned the research and cut the funding because otherwise, the religious scholar would destabilize the government and its policies, so that was need of the hour to ban it. There are high hopes that this research will find its way into the clinical trials because some countries are now lifting the ban on embryonic stem cells.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Lo, B., & Parham, L. (2009). Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research. Endocrine Reviews, 30(3), 204–213.

Matikainen, T., & Laine, J. (2005). Placenta--an alternative source of stem cells. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 207(2 Suppl), 544–549.