Controversy
While millions of patients have great expectations
for stem cells, stem cell research raises ethical questions.
Unscrupulous researchers, for example, could abuse stem
cell technology developed to treat disease for the purpose
of creating human clones. Like scientists in general,
Whitehead researchers support a ban on such “reproductive”
cloning. But they support human therapeutic cloning,
which potentially could generate customized cells and
tissues.
Stem cell research also raises questions about the fate
of human embryos. Embryonic stem cells, taken from a
three-day-old pre-embryonic ball of about 100 cells
no larger than the tip of a pin, can form virtually
any kind of cell type or tissue in the body. But the
pre-embryonic ball is typically destroyed when researchers
extract stem cells.
Whitehead Member Rudolf
Jaenisch has demonstrated a way to generate adult
stem cells without destroying a viable embryo in the
process, a procedure termed “altered nuclear transfer.”
Using a mouse, he created an embryo-like entity that
was genetically incapable of implanting in a uterus,
and that also had certain structural deficiencies. Although
this entity was not a viable embryo, it did yield perfectly
healthy embryonic stem cells. If this research is successfully
repeated in human cells, it might provide a solution
to the ethical debate.
Here is more background on the cloning debate and the
controversy surrounding the destruction of potential
human life.
Researchers
offer proof-of-concept for Altered Nuclear Transfer
Demonstrated in mice, this technique produces embryonic
stem cell without destroying a viable embryo.
Human
Cloning and Human Rights: Promises and Perils
Rudolf Jaenisch prepared this presentation for a series
sponsored by the MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice.
Life,
death and stem cells
Here are both sides of the debate on therapeutic cloning.
With
respect and conscience
Former Whitehead postdoctoral fellow Willy Lensch believes
stem cell research can benefit those suffering with
disease while properly addressing ethical concerns about
human life in its earliest forms.
|
