 Ethics of Stem Cell Research Danielle Priestley John Nebbia Huy Lam Kihyun Lee

Overview of Stem Cells  Cell from the body with ability to reproduce into many other cells  Unspecialized  Creates over 200 cell types  Divisions of a stem cell can become a stem cell or a specialized cell  Replace old cells to repair parts of body  Can divide all the time or situationally  Can be found all over the body

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Types of Stem Cells  Embryonic  5-14 day embryo  Cells are able to differentiate into ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm  Hematopoietic  Cord blood, fetal tissues, bone marrow, Adult stem cells  Able to produce many cell types and self-renew over a lifetime  Neural  Adult stem cells  Limited or no capacity of self-renewal

Growing Cells in a Lab  Cell are cultured  Must make sure they are, in fact, remaining stem cells  Can take months  Research in directed differentiation.  Harnessing the potential of stem cells by constraining differentiation in vitro toward tissues of interest  Variation of Medium  If cells are clumped they will differentiate spontaneously  Making a mass of cells (teratoma)

Stem Cell Concerns  Passing of viruses or other microscopic agents  Transplant drugs to clear immune system  Diseases from animals  Nutrients for stem cells are derived from animals which could carry diseases  Usually cultivated in laboratory  Uncontrolled growth  Leads to more of a concern with embryonic cells because they grow quickly and that it could result in tumors.  Misdirected growth  Differentiating into wrong type of tissue

How Stem Cells Can Be Used  Determine how development occurs in the body  New medications  Transplants  Growing organs for people in need  Type 1 diabetes (cells that produce insulin)  Cancer and birth defects: can they be avoided?  Cell division  Differentiation

How can stem cells be used  Known to have helped people with over 70 different diseases  Different results with different stem cells  Adult stem cells  Embryonic stem cells

Transplants  Grow cells in the lab from stem cells  Control them to differentiate into certain cell  Compatibility testing  Proper functioning in new body for rest of life  No harm to new body vs. Rejection of tissue

Stem Cells and Heart Disease  One of largest causes of death is Heart Diseases  Heart doesn’t get oxygen -> heart cells die -> bad things happen  Stem cells can replace dead heart cells  Currently being tested on animals  More research is needed before human trials begin

Ethical Issues  Living or not  “who or what”  Pre-implantation embryos  Is it right to make these embryos on purpose only for the stem cells?  Where are the restrictions drawn?  Spares from IVF  Intentional creation  Are you taking a potential life?

Ethical Issues  Embryos would be discarded anyways if not used for stem cells  May have a purpose and not discarded  Some don’t see a problem with making stem cells  No one is harmed  Turning life into a money game  If you are rich you can buy a new body part  Future

Social Issues  Feminists think that women are being used  “therapeutic cloning”  Genetically identical to individual offering stem cells  Think that therapeutic cloning will eventually lead to reproductive cloning (slippery slopes effect)  Religion: killing something that could become a living person  Therapeutic cloning: imitating the creation of life  When does life start? Catholic Church believes in life begins at conception

 Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1995 encyclical, The Gospel of Life, that “Human embryos obtained in vitro are human beings and are subjects with rights; their dignity and right to life must be respected from the first moment of their existence” Social Issues

Political Issues  Primary question was whether the federal government should fund research or not  In 2001, Senator Barrack Obama of Illinois voted for legislation that would have allowed federal funding for stem cell research using embryos slated to be discarded from fertility clinics.  President Bush vetoed the bill  Can be used for some lines that were already working  Limited numbers  Law protecting embryos so they aren’t destroyed  No law protecting pre-embryos (younger than 14 days)

 In 2009, President Barrack Obama lifts restriction ban on stem cell research  Polls indicated that people today have a better outlook and support on the research. More than half favored stem cell research than finding a method of preserving the embryos.  "We are committed to pursuing stem cell research quite responsibly, but we recognize there are a range of beliefs on this.“ –White House domestic policy adviser Political Issues

Work Cited      research-issue   and-politics/?beta=true&utm_expid= Lly4CFSVQG2lphsg- KopIg.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F and-politics/?beta=true&utm_expid= Lly4CFSVQG2lphsg- KopIg.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F  obamas-embryonic-stem-cell-research-decision