Topic: Should medical research involving the use of human stem cells be permitted? Should clinical treatments that utilize these cloned cells be allowed?
Background Information: The manipulation of the human embryo and the application of cloning technology are relatively novel developments. Research involving human embryos has only been permitted in the United Kingdom since 1990. In 2001 the United Kingdom Parliament narrowly approved the cloning of human embryos for a limited range of research purposes. In August 2001 President George Bush is reported to be contemplated a similar degree of freedom for US biotechnology programs. The issue was thrust upon the public conscience by the landmark achievement of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh in 1997. The successful cloning of ‘Dolly’ the sheep from an adult cell utilized the technique known as ‘somatic cell nuclear transfer’. The nucleus from a somatic cell was fused with an unfertilized egg from which the nucleus had been removed. Human ‘therapeutic’ cloning concerns the applications of nuclear transfer technology that do not lead to the creation of an entire human. The scientific object is the cloning of embryos in order to produce identical cell lines, the removal of which destroys the embryo. The passage of an electric current across each cell should allow development as a specified somatic or body cell. The purported medical benefits reside in the possibility of bodily repair. Neurons killed by degenerative diseases such as Huntingdon’s Chorea or Alzheimer’s Disease could be replaced by genetically identical cells. Transplant operations are currently hindered by the risk of potentially fatal rejection of the transplanted organ. Cloned cell lines could eliminate this hazard by operating as a ‘solvent’ between the foreign organ and the body. Removal of the rejection reaction may facilitate the process of ‘xeno-transplantation’ whereby animal organs can be used in human bodies. One of the ethical focuses of this debate concerns the loss of thousands of embryos, and thus the creation and destruction of future human life, which is inevitable in any program of research or treatment involving human life.
Directions - go to the following LINK and read over the arguments.
YOUR REACTION: Based on your research, develop an argument FOR or AGAINST stem cell research. Please submit your response to your blog.
Be prepared to discuss your argument with the class.
