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Stem Cell Research and the Regulation of a Moving Target
Published in Sarah Devaney, Stem Cell Research and the Collaborative Regulation of Innovation, 2013
Whether or not it is ethically sound to utilise human embryos in SC research remains a contentious issue. Views on their moral status range from bestowing embryos with the same moral status as an adult human,153 through seeing embryos as acquiring moral status gradually154 to viewing embryos as having no more intrinsic value than any other cell mass.155 Opponents of the practice of using embryos for research, in particular for SCNT research which causes their demise, assert that such practices demonstrate a disregard for the dignity of embryos through their utilisation as a resource to benefit others. Others have suggested that the nature of embryos created through SCNT purely for SC therapy purposes may be different to that of embryos created by the fertilisation of egg by sperm, the latter creating a new genetic individual, the former forcing us to consider whether it is any different to skin taken as a graft to treat our own burns.156
Medical biotechnology
Published in Firdos Alam Khan, Biotechnology Fundamentals, 2018
With the strict limitation of getting human embryos for ES cells, scientists explored other means to develop human embryos, and they used somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technology to create a clonal embryo. The most likely purpose for this is to produce embryos for use in research, particularly stem cell research. This process is also called therapeutic cloning. The goal is not to create cloned human beings but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to potentially treat disease.
Glossary of scientific and technical terms in bioengineering and biological engineering
Published in Megh R. Goyal, Scientific and Technical Terms in Bioengineering and Biological Engineering, 2018
Therapeutic cloning is a term used to refer to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Embryonic stem cells derived from therapeutic cloning (or SCNT) can then be instructed to form particular cell types, for example heart muscle. If the stem cells are placed back into the individual who gave the DNA for the somatic cell nuclear transfer, these cells are genetically identical and will not be rejected by the donors immune system.
Human Embryos, Human Beings: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach
Published in The New Bioethics, 2021
According to the Condics, these factors can be summed as requiring organisation of an intrinsic whole, by which a developing thing anticipates its final form. Enter science, which provides the observational evidence for determining whether this organization is present in the embryo. More specifically, this requires ‘uniquely human structures and operations’ (p. 185) to be observed to establish the embryo as a human being. Chapter eight is dedicated to a detailed examination of difficult cases that help to validate both the criterion of organization, and to develop guiding principles for its application. These cases include cells reprogrammed to be pluripotent, complete hydatidiform moles, and embryos with an extra copy of DNA. Three guiding questions are proposed for determining the ontological status of entities that are being manipulated in some way, by nature or experiment: firstly, whether there is an ongoing developmental trajectory; secondly, if the alteration prevents a developmental trajectory; and finally, if the alteration produces a new entity or an entity in a new state. An entire chapter is dedicated to an examination of altered nuclear transfer, which uses somatic cell nuclear transfer to produce pluripotent cells that can differentiate into any cell type of the body, without being an embryo. The examples show that a purely philosophical or scientific approach to determining status as a human being is inadequate – a combined effort is required.