Letter-to-the-editor: Ethical concerns over stem cell research
By Osagie Obasogie,
Los Angeles Times
| 08. 29. 2006
The recent breakthrough that may allow scientists to create human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos may move stem cell conversations beyond the deliberative quagmire of abortion politics and embryos' moral status. But it would be misguided to think that whether or not an embryo is destroyed marks the only ethical or social concern. Stem cell research may lead to therapies for devastating diseases. But will designer medicines premised on stem cell research be affordable to anyone other than the wealthy, particularly after California's taxpayers invested nearly $6 billion in their development? How will researchers obtain the eggs necessary to pursue this research, and how will this affect women's health? How can we oversee these technologies and their applications while ensuring that a growing industry with the keys to life's building blocks acts in the public's interest?
How embryos are treated with regard to stem cell research is unquestionably important. But equally important is how we treat each other.
Related Articles
By Priyanka Runwal, Chemical and Engineering News | 08.05.2024
Saritee Sanodiya, 26, has spent countless days wondering if she’ll ever live a “normal” life. Growing up, Sanodiya often missed school, frequenting the hospital for sudden, life-threatening drops in her hemoglobin levels and excruciating pain in her joints. High fever...
It’s been a busy couple of months in biopolitics, with developments in the US, UK, China, Japan, and implicitly on Mars. Time for a brief roundup.
• • •
Bioethics needs an update
The National Research Act is now 50 years old. It was signed into law on July 12, 1974, as a direct response to publicity about the 1932 “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” The Hastings Bioethics Forum celebrated its anniversary with an...
Image courtesy National Human Genome Research Institute
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supposed to encourage effective medical advances while also ensuring that patients and research subjects are protected. This dual mandate demands tricky judgment calls that are made more difficult by outside pressures of several kinds, political, judicial, and especially commercial. This April story at Bloomberg examines one deeply troubling pattern of regulatory capture:
Americans Are Paying Billions to Take Drugs That Don’t Work
Companies are increasingly...
By Sarah Kliff and Azeen Ghorayshi, The New York Times | 07.15.2024