Ethical issues of using stem cells

Question 1

what are the uses of stem cells in medical therapies

Answer 1

inject stem cells in the body to give rise to specialised cells
to replace dead or damaged cells to repair damaged tissues
producing tissues or organs for transplant
treat a wide range of diseases caused by faulty or damaged cells
drug testing
research into differentiation or caner

Question 2

what is the process of therapeutic cloning

Answer 2

1. nucleus is removed from an egg cell
2. a diploid somatic cell removed from patient and the nucleus from this cell is placed in the egg cell
3. new cell is stimulated using electricity to divide by mitosis
4. blastocyst is formed
5. pluripotent stem cells are removed and encouraged to develop into tissues genetically identical to the patient
6. genetically identical cells are then used for transplantation

Question 3

what are the advantages of therapeutic cloning

Answer 3

transplanted tissue is not rejected by patient since the cells are genetically identical to patients own cells
no need for patient to take immunosuppressant drugs

Question 4

what are induced pluripotent stem cells

Answer 4

multipotent (adult) somatic stem cells that are genetically reprogrammed to become like embryonic stem cells
they are forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the properties of embryonic stem cells

Question 5

what are the rolls of the human fertilisation and embryology authority

Answer 5

1. decide the maximum age of an embryo allow to be used for research
2. to consider ethical issues (especially for the use of human embryo)
3. to check that the source of the stem cells is acceptable
4. to stop human cloning
5. to stop unnecessary repeating of research
6. to make sure institutions have a license to carry out research

Question 6

what are the disadvantages of adult stem cells

Answer 6

they are multipotent so only give rise to a small amount of different tissues
difficult to extract from parts of the body
few amount of stem cells present in the body

Question 7

what are the disadvantages of embryonic stem cells

Answer 7

ethical issues
risk of rejection, infection and cancer when used for treatment

Question 8

what are the disadvantages of induced pluripotent stem cells

Answer 8

very difficult to create pluripotent cells
difficult to control differentiation (may lead to cancer)

Question 9

ethical arguments for the use of embryonic stem cells

Answer 9

people who suffer from diseases can have treatment for
spare IVF embryos would be destroyed anyway
embryos are not considered to be humans yet
research for multipotent stem cells is progressing slowly

Question 10

ethical arguments against the use of embryonic stem cells

Answer 10

considered as unborn children so its classed as murder
in a few more years there may be the same benefits using multipotent stem cells
encourages IVF clinics to create more spare embryos
diverts funding towards the use of adult stem cells