Stem Cell Ethics - the state of the art
Should women be permitted to donate their eggs for money?
Such a bizarre question. Women are permitted to sell much more than that, and often, left with few alternatives.
But it’s odd to me that the scientific consensus splits over this particular controversy, as some exercise their strangely chivalrous notions.
Seems to me that the area of stem cell research offers quite a few more abiding controversies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New international guidelines on human embryonic stem cell research called for close scrutiny of scientists and clear consent from people donating cells, but did not settle the issue of paying women who donate eggs.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research, the principal scientific group for stem cell scientists, said its 15 pages of rules released on Thursday were meant to establish ground rules for a field stung by a fraud scandal and opposition by some people on moral grounds. (Source: Reuters, via Scientific American)
I find it fascinating that an international society would be working on such ethical guidelines. Some folks in America may be put-off, as it was not an "American Society") (as if Aussies, Brits, Germans, and others couldn’t do the research with American financing abroad)…are we handing over control of our stem cells to fur’ners?
Truth is - these types of specialist groups are the focal point for most developments that really benefit us humans. A group of engineers gets together - and crafts codes on electicity. A group of scientists get together to share their notes - and the world wide web is born.
So it’s worth taking seriously.
The guidelines call for special scrutiny by institutions where research takes place, but do not specify a precise form of such oversight. They also require explicit consent from anyone donating cells for such research.
The society failed to reach consensus on whether paying even a modest amount of money to women who donate their eggs for research should be allowed.
At the end of the day, what this means is that the International Society is going to play some role in certifying "compliant" systems (or at least, they want to).
And that’s where the "American Society" will come into play - condemning the International Society for it’s lack of cultural sensitivity (yes, those Italians, Irish, British, Germans, Scandinavians, and others have absolutely no understanding of American culture - didn’t we give them all their holidays, food, and religions, after all?).
Fair enough. We’ll see what comes of this - hopefully, in our own lifetimes. I’d sort of like to hope that we might eradicate Parkinson’s and Alzheimers.
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