Question

Identify what ethical principles are in conflict with regards to the steam cells research an ethical dilemmas (in 30-40 words each)

Answer 1

Stem cell research is a scientific boon as it serves as aplatform for understanding the human development and differentiation. It has also fostered a new hope for development of new treatment modalities for diseases like parkinsonism, diabetes, spinal cord injury and myocardial infaraction. A very strong ethical and political conflicts surrounds the stem cell research. These ethical dilemma has risen from generation of pluripotent stem cells lines from human oocytes and embryos. However these political and ethical issues needs to be discussed and sorted out so that the stem cell researchs are carried out in an ethically appropriate manner. The major ethical principles involved in this issue is respect of subjects, beneficence, and justice.

The various ethical issues associated with a stemcell studies are:

• Informed and voluntary consent: An informed consent in research is very important when it deals with human subject. The consent needed may be from the embryo or gamete donor. The couple who undergoes the infertility treatment may donate the remain oocytes for research but the opinion about such donation differs with different couples. The gamete donor may also be not willing to donate their genetic material for study.
• Confidentiality of the donor information: Breech in the confedentilaity of the donor have developed ethical issues in many cases. A person who is not a part of the other research should handle the personal health information of the subjects. The autonomy of the subject should be respected.
• Ethical concerns about oocyte donation: The oocyte used to derive a stem cell is destroyed while processing. This destruction of embryo or oocyte have raised several ethical issues as oocyte is considered to be the beginning of life. Its considered equivalent to aborting a live fetus. This act is considered to be cruel and an injustice done to the upcoming life.
• While developing oocytes specifically for research purpose, various other ethical issues have been found like the payment to oocyte donors, medical risk in oocyte retrieval, protecting the reproductive interest of women in infertility treatment..
• In conducting the stem cell clinical trials, risk and benefit involved with the intervention is also a matter of concern.