stem cell research controversy

in the world of organ donation, if someonedesperately needs a transplant, but they don’t receive one in time, they die. but what ifthe sick were no longer reliant on organ donors to survive? that’s a future we could soon be livingin, according to new research by reproductive biologist pablo ross. in what could be a medicalbreakthrough, dr. ross removes the gene from pig embryos that makes their pancreas, theninjects those embryos with human stem cells in an attempt to prove a pig can grow thehuman organ. and because the stem cells can be made from an adult human’s skin cells,any organ that grows would exactly match the human genetic source.

in a way, this is creating a two species hybrid,or chimera. dr. ross addressed the controversy over this new field of research saying,"we're not trying to make a chimera just because we want to see some kind of monstrous creature.we're doing this for a biomedical purpose. i don't consider that we're playing god oreven close to that. we're just trying to use the technologies that we have developed toimprove peoples’ life." one of the arguments against this researchis that the stem cells could go anywhere. they could grow into a pancreas as intended,but they could also grow into some other organ, like a brain, potentially creating an animalwith human-like brain function. of course, at this point we have no idea how a pig witha human mind would behave or what it’s needs

would be. “one of the concerns that a lot of peoplehave is that there’s something sacrosanct about what it means to be human expressedin our dna and that by inserting that into other animals and giving those other animalspotentially some of the capacities of humans that this could be a kind of violation — akind of, maybe, even playing god." but dr. ross argues he too is concerned aboutthis and is only allowing the embryos to develop for 28 days before removing and dissectingthem, "we're very aware and sensitive to the ethical concerns. one of the reasons we'redoing this research the way we're doing it is because we want to provide scientific informationto inform those concerns."

for now, the national institutes of healthhas imposed a moratorium on funding while they explore the ethics of chimera research.the us defense department, though, is funding the project, which raises an entirely differentset of questions. but leaving aside the possibility of chimerasoldiers for now, there are many ethical questions. what if a chimera escaped or was smuggledout of the lab and began breeding with other animals--the spread of human/animal dna couldbe rampant. also, if humans are so closely genetically related to pigs that our bodyparts can be grown inside of them, is it still ethical to use pigs for research, or to eatthem? despite the dangers of further diluting ourhumanity with this type of research, our species

has a long history of putting self-interestahead of ethical and moral concerns. and, like the future that has surely been envisionedby some sci-fi writer, one can imagine how the seductive possibility of extending ouralready long lives could result in a future where factory farms are filled with pigs thatnot only provide us meat, but also beating hearts, kidneys, livers, and lungs. thanks for watching. what do you think aboutthis philosophically challenging topic? and a special thanks to rob stein and allthings considered whose full 8 minute segment this video was based on is linked below. until next time, for tdc, i’m bryce plank.