Benefits and risks associated with the use of stem cells in medicine
stem cellA cell found in foetuses, embryos and some adult tissues that can give rise to a wide range of other cells. have great potential for:
- treating patients with currently untreatable conditions
- growing organs for transplants
- medical research
There are clinical, ethicalRelating to right and wrong, eg ethical companies are often ones that act in a responsible way. and social issues with their use. These issues will be different for growth and transplant of adult stem cellA type of stem cell found in specific locations in adults. Adult stem cells can only differentiate into a limited number of related cell types., embryonic stem cellA type of stem cell found in the embryo, capable of dividing into almost any cell type. and therapeutic cloningUsing cloning technology for medicinal purposes. One example is to use a person's DNA to clone one of their organs for use in transplanting.. They will also depend on whether the stem cells are to be used for therapy or research.
It is important to obtain a balanced view. Sometimes, there are no right or wrong answers. Other times there are no answers at all. Some variables which would be considered when discussing stem cells include:
Clinical issues
- There is no guarantee of how successful these therapies will be, for example in the use of stem cells in healing damage caused by Parkinson's disease.
- The difficulty in finding suitable stem cell donors.
- The difficulty in obtaining and storing a patient's embryonic stem cells.
- mutationA random and spontaneous change in the structure of a gene, chromosome or number of chromosomes. have been observed in stem cells cultured for a number of generations, and some mutated stem cells have been observed to behave like cancerA disease caused by normal cells changing so that they grow and divide in an uncontrolled way. The uncontrolled growth causes a lump called a tumour to form. cells.
- Cultured stem cells could be contaminated with viruses which would be transferred to a patient.
Ethical issues
- A source of embryonic stem cell is unused embryos produced by in vitro fertilisation.
- For therapeutic cloning, is it right to create embryos for therapy, and destroy them in the process?
- Embryos could come to be viewed as a commodity, and not as an embryo that could develop into a person.
- At what stage of its development should an embryo be regarded as, and treated as, a person?
Social issues
- Educating the public about what stem cells can, and can't do, is important.
- Whether the benefits of stem cell research use outweigh the objections.
- Much of the research is being carried out by commercial clinics, so reported successes are not subject to peer review.
- Patients could be exploited by paying for expensive treatments and being given false hope of a cure as stem cell therapies are only in their developmental stages.