Today, the first human subject was injected with embryonic stem cells. This is part of the first research endeavor in the world in human embryonic stem cell therapy, headed by Geron Corporation, a pharmaceutical company based in Menlo Park, California. Today marks the beginning of their preliminary trials in spinal injury therapy using “oligodendrocyte progenitors” to cover nerve endings. These cells are derived from stem cells, and will in theory perform a series of microscopic tasks to protect and heal the nerves.
Stem cell therapy is not inherently wrong. By using human cells to grow other human cells, we may eventually be able to actually re-grow limbs and organs and prolong lives beyond any threshold we can imagine today, but this is just speculation. Stem cell research is still in the most infantile stage of development and still carries a plethora of risks. What makes this first trial of stem cell research so unethical is that each patient must be treated with immunosuppressive drugs to prevent their bodies from rejecting the stem cells. This combined with the nagging fact that those with spinal injuries are not normally in mortal peril should bring a stark reality to the attention of those reviewing this research: there isn't enough medical benefit to justify such of a risky treatment on human beings with this, in some cases, highly treatable condition. The "progenitors", whose very survival depend on the weakening of the patient's own immune system, also have a very real chance of unpredictably multiplying and "forming improper tissues" throughout the body. This is disgusting to be performed on someone who still has other options. Stem cell research may have its day and save the world, but today, its first step into the human arena was not the best it could have been. Such a risky endeavor is heinous to be performed on anyone who has other, proven alternatives and should be frowned upon by the medical world for this reason.
Sources:
http://www.frcblog.com/2010/10/geron-begins-questionable-human-experiments/
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-stem-cell-treatment,0,451053.story
http://www.frcblog.com/2009/10/fda-hold-on-embryonic-stem-cell-experiments/
http://www.thecloakroomblog.com/2010/02/geron-admits-politics-in-timing-of-fda-embryonic-stem-cell-approval/
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01217008
No comments:
Post a Comment