Stem cells are an issue that has always provoked lively
debate. The molding clay of the cell world, the uses of stem cells range widely
from artificially engineering new organs for transplant patients to treating
infertility. One particularly controversial use of stem cells is in anti-aging
therapy, primarily for cosmetic purposes. The success of these treatments has
led to a cacophony of opinions. Opponents of the therapy argue that resources
that could otherwise be used to save lives with extra organ should not be
wasted on indulging the vanity of the rich. Before we can effectively argue for
or against this or any other use of stem cells, we have to make a decision as a
society: should stem cells be open to the free market? Should we instead
completely regulate the allotment of stem cells, and make it solely for
research that is seen to the most good (i.e. saving lives at some point in the
future). I think that the right answer lies somewhere in the middle. A complete
free market economy would lead to the applications of stem cells being
primarily commercial, which for the most part will be at odds with the most
beneficial uses. On the other hand, strict regulation of stem cells could lead to
its own problems. Firstly, if we don’t allow people to receive compensation for
donating stem cells, they will be less likely to donate, making for less
available stem cells. If we restrict the use of stem cells to only a few area
of research, then we may disallow research into areas of study that would be
very beneficial long term, but in a non-obvious way. For example, research into
the use of stem cells as an anti-aging treatment for facial tissues could lead
to valuable data about using stem cells for the restoration of aging vital
organs. The optimal solution would be a partially free market with subsidies in
the form of government grants to promising new areas of research. This would
promote competitiveness in the market, not only for market applications, but
also for novelty in research.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/health/research/scientists-use-stem-cells-to-generate-human-eggs.html?ref=stemcells
1 comment:
While I agree that there has to be a balance between research driven by free-market incentive and by government grants, a major reason that stem cell research has not progressed as much as it could have is that both state and the federal governments have imposed restrictions on stem cell research. These laws generally target embryonic stem cell research—until Obama issued a new policy in 2009, research was restricted to using embryonic stem cells from before Bush’s term. In other words, for 8 years, embryonic stem cell research was capped and received very little federal funding. Until very recently, embryonic stem cell research was discouraged because it was argued that the process required the prevention of the development of a blastocyst into an embryo, fetus, and eventually, a child. To account for the strong push from the scientific community for the pursuit of very promising stem cell research, the use of adult stem cells was encouraged. However, this is very limiting, as these stem cells are much harder to isolate and exist in smaller quantities.
The problem therefore lies not only with, to use the metaphor of my economics professor, the way the slices of the pie (research money) is distributed, but also the size of the entire pie to begin with. If our society wants to pursue this potentially amazing technology for either the purpose of therapy or enhancement, it has to make a significant commitment to this path and remove any obstacles in its way—embryonic stem cells are a necessary part of stem cell research, and the cells are only harvested from extra blastocysts from in vitro fertilizations that would not have developed into fetuses anyway.
Random interesting stem cell innovation: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/us-patient-artifical-trachea-transplant/story?id=15354809
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/embryonic-and-fetal-research-laws.aspx
http://stemcells.nih.gov/policy/defaultpage.asp
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