applied ethics- stem cells

8/7/2019 Applied Ethics- Stem Cells

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INTRODUCTION

The discovery, isolation, and culturing of human and animal stem cells have beendescribed as one of the most significant breakthroughs in biomedicine of the century.

This description would be warranted by virtue of the biological uniqueness of these

cells alonetheir ability to self-renew infinitely while retaining a remarkable capacity

to differentiate into any form of cell tissue. But as well as this, the culturing of stemcells holds tremendous potential for the development of new forms of regenerative

medicine to treat debilitating or fatal conditions that would not otherwise be curable.

The lengthy except above captures a picture of the imperativeness of the breakthrough and

discovery of the stem cell process in the bio-medical field. However, it is somewhat of an

irony that the discovery of stem cells with such a tremendous potential for improving and

prolonging our own lives, should bring with it some of the most trenchant and intractable

questions about the value of life itself. Relatively therefore, Eugenics as a concept has been

defined in several bio-medical books as the science of the improvement of the human species.

The exact preoccupation in view of this improvement is made by genetics in the experience

of genetics research and gene research. The highest extension of the latter is now the science

of stem cell research, which is the newest in the bio-medical and gene-technology. Stem cells

one can say is at the arrival of the roots of the research on human cells and thereby at the

roots of how to handle our health and life problem. Stem Cell, source of all body tissues.

Stem cells can replicate themselves or make any type of cell required to build an organism.

Our growth and development, from single cell to mature adult, arises from and is maintained

by stem cells. Moreover, stem cells may provide powerful tools for biological research and

medicine.

This essay focuses therefore on the task undertaken by medical scientists in the research on

human genes with particular reference to the most elementary parts of the body, now called

stem cells. The term stem cells can be described from the word itself: cells of the human

person. They are the mother cells, from where all other cells are derived. Stem cells are the

basics cells. After presenting some definition, we shall go in the essay to state the objectives

of stem cell research, and then look at the extent of the research in our days. This will be

followed by an ethical evaluation of stem cell research while the conclusion will tie up

together the various items exposed in the essay on stem cells. The overall insight is

expository, analytic ad evaluative.


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Having provided an introductory note into the discourse on the subject matter namely, stem

cells, it becomes imperatively imperative to conceptualise the basic term that serves as raw

material for this work.

STEM CELLS: DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION

Stem cells have been defined as follow:

Stem cells are non-specialized cells that have the capacity to divide indefinitely in culture

and to differentiate into more mature cells with more specialised functions.

That means that stem cells are the origin of other cells in the human body. They are the core

cells from which other cells are derived. They are the bearers and givers of being to the cells

of the human species. To reach them is to reach the innermost deposits of what makes the

human being what he or she is, at least from the biological point of view. Contributing to the

definition of stem cells, the US National Institute of Health writes that stem cells have the

remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body. Stem cells can

divide continuously and thereby provide replenishment to the other body parts. As long as the

person is alive stem cells will continue to divide and provide what the weaker parts of the

body need. Stem cells are so to say a repair system. They help in rejuvenating the tissues by

providing needed maintenance, which every living organism requires. To divide and multiply

constitute the method through which stem cells perform their function of bodily rejuvenation.

When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or

become another type of cell with a more specialise function. Such could be muscle cell, red

blood cell, bone marrow, brain cell etc.

Stem cells are cells that have the potential to develop into many different or specialized cell

types. Stem cells can be thought of as primitive, "unspecialized" cells that are able to divide

and become specialized cells of the body such as liver cells, muscle cells, blood cells, and

other cells with specific functions. Stem cells are referred to as "undifferentiated" cells

because they have not yet committed to a developmental path that will form a specific tissue

or organ. The process of changing into a specific cell type is known as differentiation. In

some areas of the body, stem cells divide regularly to renew and repair the existing tissue.

The bone marrow and gastrointestinal tract are examples areas in which stem cells function to

renew and repair tissue.


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The best and most readily understood example of a stem cell in humans is that of the

fertilized egg, or zygote. A zygote is a single cell that is formed by the union of a sperm

and ovum. The sperm and the ovum each carry half of the genetic material required to

form a new individual. Once that single cell or zygote starts dividing, it is known as an

embryo. One cell becomes two, two become four, four become eight, eight to sixteen, and

so on; doubling rapidly until it ultimately creates the entire sophisticated organism. Thatorganism, a person, is an immensely complicated structure consisting of many, many,

billions of cells with functions as diverse as those of your eyes, your heart, your immunesystem, the color of your skin, your brain, etc. All of the specialized cells that make up

these body systems are descendants of the original zygote, a stem cell with the potential

to ultimately develop into all kinds of body cells. The cells of a zygote are totipotent,

meaning that they have the capacity to develop into any type of cell in the body.

The process by which stem cells commit to become differentiated, or specialized, cells is

complex and involves the regulation of gene expression. Research is ongoing to further

understand the molecular events and controls necessary for stem cells to become specialized

cell types.

At the technical level, stem cells make other cells by converting themselves of function as

those other cells. Put straight, stem cells are the material from which other cells are made.

They are the material objecta (material object) of teh cells of the human body. This statement

of Patrick Dixon captures well the important content and role of the stem cells in the human

body:

All adult stem cells contain all the genetic code needed to produce an entire clone of

the adult and so are well able in theory to produce whatever tissues or organs that are

needed.

This confirms the note made by the earlier definition and clarification that stem cells have the

root substance that give birth to other cells of the human body. Being stem, they yield

branches of the body that then go to make up the human being in his variety and dynamism.

This implies that a good mastery of stem cells will portend marvels for the understanding, and

consequently for the work on and for human species. With stem cells on our side we can do if

not all things, at least a lot of things for the human species.

TYPES OF STEM CELLS

There are various types of stem cells; unipotent, totitpotent, pluripotent, multipotent. Others

are adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and embryonic germ cells. These divisions are

done in function of how many different types of cells they are able to produce, their functions

or role within the cellular structure of the organism. Stem cells produce variously and this

variety determines the various categories or types of stem cells we have. So far in the


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literature we are able to distinguish six types. However, with further research, scientists have

had said that stem cells can be classified into three broad categories, based on their ability to

differentiate. Totipotent stem cells are found only in early embryos. Each cell can form a

complete organism (e.g., identical twins). Pluripotent stem cells exist in the undifferentiated

inner cell mass of the blastocyst and can form any of the over 200 different cell types found

in the body. Multipotentstem cells are derived from fetal tissue, cord blood and adult stem

cells. Although their ability to differentiate is more limited than pluripotent stem cells, they

already have a track record of success in cell-based therapies. Here is a current list of the

sources of stem cells:

Embryonic stem cells

During the early stages of embryonic development the cells remain relatively undifferentiated

(immature) and appear to possess the ability to become, or differentiate, into almost any

tissue within the body. For example, cells taken from one section of an embryo that might

have become part of the eye can be transferred into another section of the embryo and could

develop into blood, muscle, nerve, or liver cells. These are primitive cells that are

undifferentiated and cultured from the embryo. They have the potential to become a wide

variety of specialised cell types, thereby are plurpotent. They are derived from the inner cells

mass of the blasocyst. They not embryos and thereby cannot produce the necessary cell types

such as trophectoderen cells. They cannot therefore give to complete organism. They remain

nevertheless cells of the human body. The embryonic stem cells lines are close to this. They

are embryonic stem cells that can produce more embryonic stem cells. They give rise to other

stem cells of the embryo in the same line, hence the name cell lines. They do this through

differentiation and other cells are produced including cells found in the implantation embryo,

foetus and even the developed organism. Because of these lines they are at times called

populations of dividing cells.

Cells in the early embryonic stage are totipotent (see above) and can differentiate to become

any type of body cell. After about seven days, the zygote forms a structure known as a

blastocyst, which contains a mass of cells that eventually become the fetus, as well as

trophoblastic tissue that eventually becomes the placenta. If cells are taken from the

blastocyst at this stage, they are known as pluripotent, meaning that they have the capacity

to become many different types of human cell. Cells at this stage are often referred to as


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blastocyst embryonic stem cells. When any types of embryonic stem cells are grown in

culture in the laboratory, they can divide and grow indefinitely. These cells are then known as

Fetal stem cells

The embryo is referred to as a fetus after the eighth week of development. The fetus contains

stem cells that are pluripotent and eventually develop into the different body tissues in the

fetus.

Adult stem cells

Adult stem cells present in all humans in small numbers. The adult stem cell is one of the

class of cells that we have been able to manipulate quite effectively in the bone marrow

transplant arena over the past 30 years. These are stem cells that are largely tissue-specific in

their location. Rather than typically giving rise to all of the cells of the body, these cells are

capable of giving rise only to a few types of cells that develop into a specific tissue or organ.

They are therefore known as multipotent stem cells. Adult stem cells are sometimes referred

to as somatic stem cells.

The best characterized example of an adult stem cell is the blood stem cell (the hematopoietic

stem cell). When we refer to a bone marrow transplant, a stem cell transplant, or a blood

transplant, the cell being transplanted is the hematopoietic stem cell, or blood stem cell. This

cell is a very rare cell that is found primarily within the bone marrow of the adult.

One of the exciting discoveries of the last years has been the overturning of a long-held

scientific belief that an adult stem cell was a completely committed stem cell. It was

previously believed that a hematopoietic, or blood-forming stem cell, could only create other

blood cells and could never become another type of stem cell. There is now evidence that

some of these apparently committed adult stem cells are able to change direction to become a

stem cell in a different organ. For example, there are some models of bone marrowtransplantation in rats with damaged livers in which the liver partially re-grows with cells that

are derived from transplanted bone marrow. Similar studies can be done showing that many

different cell types can be derived from each other. It appears that heart cells can be grown

from bone marrow stem cells, that bone marrow cells can be grown from stem cells derived

from muscle, and that brain stem cells can turn into many types of cells.


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Peripheral blood Stem Cells

Most blood stem cells are present in the bone marrow, but a few are present in the

bloodstream. This means that these so-called peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) can be

isolated from a drawn blood sample. The blood stem cell is capable of giving rise to a verylarge number of very different cells that make up the blood and immune system, including

red blood cells, platelets, granulocytes, and lymphocytes.

y Red bloodcells carry oxygen around the body and give the blood its color.y Platelets are cell fragments that stop a person from bleeding and help the body to clot

and heal when it is cut.

yGranulocytes are a type of white blood cell that helps fight bacterial infection.

y Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that is part of the immune system, helpfight other infections, and also may be involved in protection against cancer.

All of these very different cells with very different functions are derived from a common,

ancestral, committed blood-forming (hematopoietic), stem cell.

Umbilicalcord stem cells

Blood from the umbilical cord contains some stem cells that are genetically identical to the

newborn. Like adult stem cells, these are multipotent stem cells that are able to differentiate

into certain, but not all, cell types. For this reason, umbilical cord blood is often banked, or

stored, for possible future use should the individual require stem cell therapy.

Pluripotent Stem Cells (PSCs)

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) were first created for human cells in 2007. They are stem cells

that can give rise to any type cell in the human body with one exception: the cells needed to

develop. Pluri indicates plural and pluripotent stem cells can therefore produce plural or

multitude of cells apart from the foetus- forming ones. The pluriotent is therefore found in the

post-implantation period of the embryo or foetus. They are found in the developed organism.

These are adult cells that have been genetically converted to an embryonic stem celllike

state. In animal studies, PSCs have been shown to possess characteristics of pluripotent stem


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cells. Human PSCs can differentiate and become multiple different fetal cell types. PSCs are

valuable aids in the study of disease development and drug treatment, and they may have

future uses in transplantation medicine. Further research is needed regarding the development

and use of these cells.

The discovery of various stem cells is ongoing. That means that more and new ones can be

identified in the future. Basic to all the types of stem cells however is this one factor: stem

cell is at the root of the cell formation of organism. Stem cells are the mother cells from

which other cells take their origin, bearing and developmental ramification. The further

discovery of the more detailed ramifications has been the penchant preoccupation of medical

experts in the field of stem cell research and deployment.

OBJECTIVES OF STEM CELL RESEARCH

The general objective of the research in stem cells is discovery. The researcher want to

discover the immensity of knowledge, power and consequent utility embedded in the cells of

the body. Such discovery would make a new leap in the development of medicine and the

role that medicine is called upon to fulfil for the human and animal species. Knowledge is

power. Such discovered knowledge will create more power over the forces of the human

body in view of the mastering and improving on its performance. The objective corresponds

to the universal objective of genetic and gene therapeutic research.

Furthermore, studying stem cells will help understand how they transform into the dazzling

array of specialised cells that make up the whole area. The study will make doctors more how

to handle cases hitherto unknown. That is the objective, the passion and the target. To make

medical care and development more productive, more efficient.

Improvement of medical practice is fundamental in health care delivery. Stem cell research is

a big leeway in this target. Better understanding will empower medical experts to correct

errors so far perpetuated in the medical field. Add to this are concrete practises of medicaltherapies.

The research on stem cell has the potential to revolutionise the practise of medicine and

improve the quality and length of life. Given the enormous promise of stem cell

therapies for so many devastating diseases, NIH believes that it is important to

simultaneously pursue all lines of research and search for the very best sources of these

cells.


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Following from the above objectives, one would then say that the stem cell programme is for

man. This has also serious implications. That it should not become an enslavement of the

human species to its own detriment. This is a note of caution that is the task of medical and

gene ethics to explore. Before we come to that we shall continue our analysis by presenting

the sources of stem cell research for now.

THE SOURCE OF STEM CELLS

When a sperm cell fertilizes an egg, the process creates a stem cell. (Some scientists consider

the zygote, or fertilized egg, itself to be a stem cell, whereas others believe that the zygote

must divide a few times to form stem cells.) The unspecialized stem cell can make all other

cells, from additional stem cells to bone cells, blood cells, muscle cells, skin cells, and all the

specialized cells that make up body tissues. As a human develops and matures a stockpile of

stem cells remains in every organ of the body. Although all cells can divide to make copies of

them, only stem cells can create other cell types.

To explore potential medical uses of these cells, scientists need stem cell lines. These lines

are colonies of stem cells that grow and replicate themselves in culturethat is, in a special

nutrient substance in a laboratory dish. A stem cell line provides a scientist with a virtually

endless supply of material to explore and test. Stem cells; however, seem to lose some of

their ability to make a wide range of cells as they age. In other words, an older stem cell may

not be as versatile as a younger one. The exception seems to be adult stem cells derived from

bone marrow, which retain their ability to transform into any cell type. As a result, adult stem

cells from bone marrow and the earliest stem cellsthose found in an embryomay provide

the most powerful tools for use in medical treatment.

Stem cells, which create a human from its beginning, also participate in repairing later

damage to the body. Our bodies appear to use stored stem cells to repair tissues throughout

our lives. Eventually, these stem cells falter or encounter more damage than they can repair,

and a persons health fails. Because of their ability to repair tissue damage, stem cells could

serve as starting points in therapy for a wide variety of medical conditions, including

Alzheimers disease, which damages brain cells, especially those related to memory, and

Parkinson disease, which damages nerves that control the muscles.


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Scientists are investigating two primary approaches to using stem cells in medicine. The first

approach involves developing stem cells that could be transplanted to combat a specific

disease. For instance, someone with a liver disease might receive a dose of liver stem cells.

Someday, a regular medical regimen might even include an occasional dose of stem cells,

much like a booster shot, to keep the body tuned up to fight off diseases and tissue damage.

The second approach involves learning to use the bodys own supply of stem cells. Perhaps

these stores of cells could be turned on or off as needed to help the body defend itself against

health problems.

DEBATING THE USE OF STEM CELLS

Despite the promise of stem cells, they have stirred considerable controversy. In large part,

the controversy surrounds the source of stem cells used in research. Most of these stem cells

come from embryos, in particular embryos left over from infertility treatments. During a

treatment known as in vitro fertilization, eggs that have been surgically removed from a

female ovary are placed in a laboratory dish with male sperm. In some cases more than one

egg becomes fertilized, creating extra embryos. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos at

a very early stage, about the time the embryo would have attached to the wall of a uterus.

The use of embryonic stem cells in medical research raises a fundamental question: Do these

cells come from human tissue or from humans? Some people oppose the use of anything,

including stem cells, from an embryo that is viable (able to grow). For people who take this

philosophical position, stem cell research involves the destruction of a human life. An

opposing viewpoint states that these embryos would never develop into humans, because they

would be either discarded or kept frozen in laboratories for future research. Consequently,

some people argue that this material should be used in any way that could possibly improve

human life.

Some people who oppose the use of stem cells point out those scientific investigators could

rely on other sources. A variety of body tissuesincluding bone marrow and blood from an

umbilical cordcan also provide stem cells. However, no one knows if these tissues produce

stem cells that equal embryonic cells in their versatility and thus in their potential for treating

human disease.


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THE BASIC ETHICAL PROBLEM OF STEM CELLS (EMBRYONIC STEM CELL AS A

CASE STUDY)

The possibility of destructive embryo research, particularly embryonic stem cell research, presents us

with a moral problem because it appears to bring into tension two fundamental moral principles that

we esteem very highly: one principle enjoins the prevention or alleviation of suffering, and the other

enjoins us to respect the value of human life. As noted, the harvesting and culturing of embryonic

stem cells has considerable potential to bring about remarkable potential benefits in the way of

alleviating debilitating medical conditions. So, it satisfies the first principle to a very great degree.

On the other hand, there is a case to be made that the harvesting of human embryonic stem cells

violates the second principle in that it results in the destruction of human life with value (i.e. human

embryos). Accordingly, both principles apparently cannot simultaneously be respected in the case of

embryonic stem cell research. The question then is which principle ought to be given precedence in

this conflict situation. Should we give more weight to the first, and permit destructive embryonic stem

cell research because of its remarkable potential benefits? Or should we give more weight to the

second, and prohibit destructive embryonic research because it violates respect for the value of the 2

Key Ethical Issues in Embryonic Stem Cell Research

embryo as the very beginnings of a possible human life? This, at bottom, is the ethical problem

generated by destructive embryo research.

Crude as it may sound, responding to this problem calls for a moral calculationa decision about

how the positive value of destructive embryo research is to be weighted, from a moral point of view,

in comparison to the negative value (or disvalue) of destroying embryos. Whatever way that

calculation is done, it is important to get a clear idea of what moral weight each side of the equation

has. This will involve:

(i) developing a sound and accurate picture of what the real value is of the benefits of embryonic

research, and

(ii) clarifying what the value of embryos might consist in, and what, if anything, may be wrong with

destroying them.

The rest of this paper outlines some of the ethical arguments and philosophical considerations that

have been considered relevant to these two matters.


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Embryos have Status as Potential Persons

Some ethicists have a response to the foregoing objection to viewing embryos as persons. It is to

concede that embryos do not currently exhibit these properties of personhood, but they will, if

allowed to develop and fulfil their potential. To the extent that embryos are potential persons, it is

argued, they ought to still be accorded the moral respect and dignity that personhood warrants.

This potential person argument gains some of its impetus from the observation that we still treat

humans as persons (with the attendant moral respect) when they are temporarily unconscious or

asleep. While in these incapacitated conditions, individuals are not conscious, can not reason, and

can not form and choose courses of actionthe characteristics we associate with personhood. But

we still see it as morally wrong to harm them or violate their basic rights. It is argued that we see

it this way because we know that even though they are not able to exercise the properties of

personhood in their present state, these people will be able to when they become conscious again.

This same reasoning it is argued, and the fact they will exercise these capacities when they

eventually become fully developed humans, should inform our attitude to embryos.

8 Key Ethical Issues in Embryonic Stem Cell Research


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Three types of concern have been expressed about this argument:

the probability of IVF embryos developing into full-term successful births is low. There is ahigh rate of foetal loss in early embryosup to 73 per cent in pre-implantation embryos.17 If

probability is a reflection of potential, then there is relatively little potential for any one pre-embryo to become a person.

Potential is very context-dependent, and it may not make sense to talk simply about the potential of something. The probability of an IVF embryo becoming a successful birthdepends heavily on human action and intervention (e.g., transferral to the uterus), as well asother biological conditions (e.g., whether the embryo implants, grows to term, is born

properly, etc., etc.). A great deal has to come from the outside for a successful birth, in thecase of both natural and assisted pregnancy. So much so, it might be argued that it is notentirely clear what could be meant when speaking of the inherent potential of an embryo to

become a person.18 From what contextual base line could that inherent potential be measured?(Some might also wish to point out that, in the case where surplus IVF embryos are used forstem cell harvest, these would naturally succumb anyway, and consequently would not havethe potential to become persons.)

Some would argue, that it is not clear why something that could become a person should bemorally regarded as if it actually were a person. They would hold that the observation madeabove about people who are temporarily unconscious does not necessarily make the requiredcase. Arguably, we treat the temporarily unconscious with the full moral respect of

personhood because we knew that before lapsing into unconsciousness they had all theproperties of personhood, and we know they will have them again after they come out of it.This scepticism is not presented as suggesting that the potential personhood of embryos countsfor nothing in the way they are regarded morally. Only that it might not count for the fullcomplement of rights and respect that actual persons warrant.

Before leaving these views about the moral status of embryos as persons or potential persons,

there is an important qualification to be noted. Even if embryos were shown to have this status,and the accompanying moral respect, dignity and protections due to persons, it can be argued that

this still might not necessarily mean that embryos should never be intentionally destroyed. A lot

depends on one's philosophical understanding of the moral rights and obligations associated with

personhood. Some would argue that the human right not to be killed, and the moral obligation not

to kill persons, are absolute and inviolable, and must be observed with no exception, regardless of

what the consequences are. Others might argue that the obligation not to kill persons, although a

very very strong obligation, is not an absolute and indefeasible one that can never be overridden.

There may be some circumstances where very great harms can be averted by actively ending

someone's life. For example, assassinating Hitler and saving 6 million Jews, or even pulling the

plug on life-support in order to spare someone's intense suffering. Someone very attuned to the

importance of consequences, therefore, might want to hold that even if embryos do have the full

complement of human rights, it is still not an absolute and indefeasible obligation not to destroy

embryos regardless of the consequences.


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The fact that many people would accept abortion in cases where the pregnant woman is at

significant physical risk, is testimony to the prevalence of this consequentialist turn in people's

ordinary moral thinking.

Embryos have Status as Divine Creations

It is sometimes implicit in some points of view, particularly theistic ones, that embryos warrant

special moral importance because they are divine creations in being the beginnings of human life.

In other words, embryos are not ours to destroy (nor create).

A number of concerns might be expressed about this view. For those who do not subscribe to a

theistic worldview, the most obvious would relate to questions about the reality of a divine

creator or creative agency. It is not clear what publicly available procedure could resolve that

question. Some might also observe that this argument, at least in its simple form, could be too

strong, since it argues against the destructive use of e.g., plants. On top of this, some might add,

our limited knowledge of the nature of the divine tends to also limit our understanding of what

divine status exactly implies re our moral obligations.

Embryos are Harmed by their Destruction (Whatever their Moral Status)

It is generally held that one of the traditional reasons for protecting life, is that loss of life causes

various sorts of harmto the killer, those close to the deceased, society in general, and most

importantly the deceased. Some have argued that loss of embryonic life is a harm, inflicted on the

embryo, by destroying it. Philip Devine, for instance, argues that:

loss of life ... is a harm that can be inflicted on any organism; plants and non-human

animals. Human organisms of every stage of development including the embryonic canall suffer loss of life.19

Others, however, have argued that embryos cannot be harmed in the sense we usually understand

that idea. The eminent American social and legal philosopher, Joel Feinberg, for instance,

analyses the concept of harm in terms of the 'thwarting, setting back, or defeating of an interest'.20

For a being to have an 'interest', for Feinberg, is a matter of it having beliefs, desires,

expectations, aims and purposes. These, he holds, are what are thwarted, in the thwarting of an

interest. According to his views trees or the environment are not themselves morally harmed by

their destruction. Feinberg allows that future or potential interests might be attributed to a

developing embryo, but that these only take effect if and when the potential interest becomes

actual. Another theorist makes this same point by example:

Imagine that, just as Dr Frankenstein reached for the lever that would bring life to the

assemblage of body parts on his laboratory table, someone appalled at the experimentsmashed the apparatus. That act, whatever we think of it, would not have been harmful orunfair to the assemblage, or against its interests.21


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The nub of this view is that because embryos are not the 'subject' of interests, they cannot be the

subject of basic rights that protect interests.

Embryos have Status as Human Life with Intrinsic Value

Even if the foregoing views of Feinberg were accepted, some have argued that there is still

something bad about the loss of life that is involved in the destruction of an embryo. In an attempt

to get at the heart of this persistent residual conviction, the prominent Anglo-American legal and

political philosopher Ronald Dworkin has proposed that we need to look at the value of a life in a

particular way. Dworkin observes that we can conceive of the value of a life from two

(compatible) points of view or directions. We very often think of the value of lives from the

inside, as it were, in terms of the value they have to the livers of those lives. Through rights and

liberties, we protect a person's life and interests, not because these are valuable from the point of

view of the universe, but because they are important to the person concerned. But as well as

recognising that a life has value to the liver, we also recognise that a life can have value from a

more objective and impersonal point of view. In much the same way that a unique and

magnificent work of art has intrinsic value, a value which makes it deserving of respect and

protection, Dworkin observes that a single human life commands respect. Dworkin eloquently

encapsulates the intrinsic value of human life in the following.

(a single human life has value) no matter in what form or shape, because of the complex

creative investment it represents and because of our wonder at the divine or evolutionary

processes that produce new lives from old ones, at the processes of nation and community and

language through which a human being will come to absorb and continue hundreds of generations

of cultures and forms of life and value, and, finally, when mental life has begun and flourishes, at

the process of internal personal creation and judgement by which a person will make and remake

himself, a mysterious, inescapable process in which we each participate, and which is therefore

the most powerful and inevitable source of empathy and communion we have with every othercreature who faces the same frightening challenge.22

Thinking of the value of a life in this more external or impersonal way, argues Dworkin, provides

another way of understanding what of moral importance is lost in the loss of a human life.

Because this understanding is not based on any supposed moral harms to the liver of the life, as

the subject of human interests, it is an understanding that can be applied in the case of human life

at its very beginnings, i.e., embryos.

There is however one crucial qualification in Dworkin's view. There are degrees of intrinsic value

of a life depending on the stage at which the life is being lived, and correspondingly, there are

degrees of respect that ought to be shown it at those stages. Dworkin observes that we tend to

make different judgements of how great a loss the ending of a life is at different stages in that life.

For example, many would argue that a life ended at the peak of its achievements and promise is a

greater loss than a life lost at its sunset, after its achievements and promise have been realised.


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Some also would argue that a human life that ends at its very beginnings is a less serious loss than

a life that ends some time after it has begun to actively engage in the process of human and social

involvement that Dworkin speaks of in the passage above. We do, for instance, see sudden infant

death as a more serious loss than early miscarriage, or failure of an embryo to implant. These

different judgements of the degree of loss involved in the ending of a life, reflect the degree of

intrinsic value we attach to human life at those stages. Or so Dworkin argues.

The important implication of Dworkin's arguments is that even though embryos, as human life,

deserve respect and protection, the degree of respect and protection they warrant may not be as

great as that accorded to later stage human life. Consequently, some would argue that there may

be circumstances where the limited loss of value involved in an embryo being destroyed is

outweighed from a moral point of view, by the possible benefits in allowing that to happen.

Embryos have the Status of Mere Body Parts

Some might hold that embryos are merely parts of other people's bodies until they reach a certain

autonomous or independent developmental stage (and there will be differing views on when that

might be). Accordingly, embryos have no independent moral status at all, and are merely the

property of the people from whose body they came. The only respect due to embryos is the

respect that should be accorded other people's property. This no-status view is argued for on

grounds that none of the other arguments in favour of an independent moral status are

compelling.

applied ethics- stem cells

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