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Issues with stem cells

There are clinical, and social issues with stem cell use. These issues will be different depending on the type of stem cells being used for growth and transplant:

Issues 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

  • no guarantee of how successful these therapies will be, eg use of stem cells in healing damage caused by Parkinson's disease
  • difficult to find suitable stem cell donors
  • difficult to obtain and store a patient's embryonic stem cells
  • have been observed in stem cells cultured for a number of generations - some mutated stem cells have been observed to behave like 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
  • 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
  • do the benefits of stem cell research and use outweigh the objections?
  • much of the research is being carried out by commercial clinics, so reported successes are not subject to
  • patients could be exploited - paying for expensive treatments and being given false hope of a cure when stem cell therapies are only in their developmental stages