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Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications Department of Science and Mathematics

2007 Making Sense of the Controversy Dennis M. Sullivan Cedarville University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Sullivan, Dennis M., "Making Sense of the Stem Cell Controversy" (2007). Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications. 82. http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/science_and_mathematics_publications/82

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t is a difficult and confusing time bei ngs have such cell s. For example, in our public discourse. Back in the human bone marrow contains stem ce lls. 1970s and 1980s, social conservatives These are often called "pluripotent" cells

rallied against the ready availability of (Lann: . " many"" + powers ") 1 beca use eae I1 . Vet the pro-l ife movement one of these cell s can become a va riety of suffered major setbacks, first in the different mature cell s. 11,ese include 1973 Roe. v. Wade Supreme Court decision, rhe whi te blood cells that protect against and again in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in infection, pl atelets that help the blood ro 1992. 11,e resu lt has been unrestricted access clot, and red blood cells that carry oxygen. ro abortion in the United States. Some organs of the body no longer contain In recent yeats, the culture wars have begun stem cell s. For example, consider the muscle again, and the debate over human life has cell s that make up the heart. If repeated become sharper and even more divisive. In heart attacks damage these cel ls, they cannot the past, the discuss ion always focused on be replaced, and the heart JUSt gets weaker. the rights of rhe llnborn child against the There is a limit ro how much damage rights of the mother. The new debate over the heart may sustain before permanent stem cell research centers on rhe ri ghts of disability or deadl occurs. the tiniest of , in the form oflitde , against the rights of resea rchers to experiment on them in the hope of developing medical cures for a variety of diseases.

The background for all this dates back to 1978 , when Louise Joy Brown, the world's first "test rube baby," was born. Reproductive technologies all ow W hat if stem cells could replace damaged ch il dless co uples to co mbine sperm and egg heart muscle? This could conceivably outside the wo mb to create embryos, wh ich prolong a person's life. Or imagine if stem can then be implanted back into d,e womb. ce lls could replenish neurons in the brain, Yet there may be unused embryos resulting helping to heal the brain after a head injury from these procedures, which are often or a stroke. The biological possibilities frozen for future use. What is the StatuS of are intriguing. A compelling case can th ese frozen embryos' Are they perso ns or also be made for the use of stem cells to property' Many medical researchers would repair spinal cord injuries, to provide new use them as research materi al, to produce pancreatic cells in diabetes mellitus, or to stem ce ll s. cu re Parkinson's disease.

Stem cells are the "starter" ceUs that may Where would such stem cells come from? become various mature cells of the body. All Unfortunately, the stem cell s of the

Spri Il g.- Su rll 1T1CI- 2007 7 bone marrow have already become fairly traditional understanding for centuries, and specialized and are desti ned ro become many secular philosophers agree with this blood cells of one type or another. These idea. Nonetheless, the seductive promise of stem cell research has fostered a mentality rhat the end justifies the mea ns.

Yet here's a fact that may surprise yo u: For all ofthe hype and p"omise of "esem'ch, the"e is not a single resem'ch study or medical treatment that is cU'7'e1ltiy helping any human being. Conservative ethicists are often accused of a lack of compassion because of their opposition to destructive research, yet rhere is not a si ngle study thar has demonstrated any benefit for any medical condition. All of the excitement is about a future potential not yet realized.

would nOt be much help in growing new However, rhere is a form of stem cell brain or heart cells . Donated stem cells must research going on roday, quietly helping be from an earlier stage of development. people and saving Jives, without any ethical Some researchers claim that the best source controversy. At last co unt, more than 70 is a human embryo, composed excl usively current studies have shown benefi t from of unprogrammed early stem cells, anyone stem cells derived from the discarded of which may become the precursor of adult umbiljcal cords of newborn babies, skin tissues and organs. cells and fat cells of ad ults, and even cells from adult bone marrow. Since the cells There are only two possible sources of derived from these sources are nOt truly human embryos. As we saw ea rlier, the pluripotent, there are limita tions, yet the lefrover embryos from reproductive ongoing research has been creative and technologies are one possible so urce. promising. No human beings are destroyed A second so urce of embryos is human ro ach ieve these modern medical miracles. cloning, scientifically called "so matic cell nuclear transfer," where DNA is combi ned Because of the limirations of non­ in a laboraroty ro creare an embryo. The embryo nic stem cells, many are sti ll harvesting of stem cells from borh of these pushing ro expand governmental funding sources destroys rhe embryos, and this of destructive embryo research. Along the creates a real erhical dilem rna. way, some people have asked a thoughtful question: "In the case of frozen embryos What are the ethics of destroying human left over from ferrility treatments, why embryos for research? 11,ose who hold ro shouldn't we use them for research, si nce the conception view of human perso nhood they are going ro be destroyed anyway?" believe rhat an embryo is a human person. That is an imporrant question, one we This has been the Christian church's should not take lightly.

8 TORCH A Bioethics Timeline

1968 Hmvmd University recommends broin deoth standmds for orgon trons planto~on . First of all, destruction of excess embryos is not in evitable, since th eir 1971 Judith Jmvis Thomson writes "ADefense of Abortion," on influential essay rate is entirely up to the couples who which defends abortion even while assuming the personhood of the unborn. produced them. They could eventually be implanted, or perhaps even be 1972 Details of the Depression'era Tuskegee Syphilis Study, one of the greatest adopted by ano th er childless couple, an ethical breaches of trust between physicians and pa~ents in a U.S. clinicol study, me brought to light. idea that is growing in populatity. And if embryos are persons, th en morall y 1973 The Roe v. Wade u.s. Supreme Court decision allows they should be protected. After all , unrestricted access to abartian before viability. killing a human being is a moral evil. 1976 By a ruling of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Kmen We cannot justify destructive embryo Ann Quinlan is token off life support. Hers is the first research based o n a vague utilitari an major "right·to die" cose involving persistent vegetative state (PVS). calculus that they are go ing to be Quinlan lived for nine more years after being removed from life support. destroyed anyway. We can do bener mo rally. 1978 louise Joy Brown, the first "test tube boby," is born.

Men and women of good faith from 1981 AIDS is first reported in the u.s. all wo rldviews must continue to debate these man ers. I n the end, our ve ry 1990 Nancy Cruzan, wha is in a PVS, dies after a contentious "right-t

Africa/l Repllblic. Sul/iMIl received his B.S. ----~--=~ from Youngstown State University, his M.D. 2003 The Humon Genome Project is completed, mmking the from Cllse Western Reserve University. Ilnd an first complete droft of the sequence of humon DNA. M .A. ill Bioethies from Trinity University. A member ofth e American MedicaL Association, 2003 The Partial-Birth Abortion Bon Act, a federol ban of the Christian Medical Association, and the intoct d i la~on and e x troc~on as on obor~on procedure, CenterJor Bioetl;ics and HU fllan Dignity, be is possed. has been hOf/ored as a Diplomate by the Americaf/ Board ofSurgery (1985) and as a 2005 Terri Schiavo dies after her feeding tube is removed by Fellow by the American College ofSurgeons ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court. In this "right-t

2007 The U.s. Supreme Court upholds the Por~ol-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

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