Embryo Research.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Laura Howe

Embryo Research

Embryo research is ‘the scientific study of an animal in the early stages of

development’ (The Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus, 1990, p.323). There are different types of embryo research, such as stem cell research, cloning and research

on the foetal tissue. The issue of embryo research is a very controversial one. There

are some very serious moral and ethical arguments against the issue of embryo

research. It is these arguments that I’m going to be discussing in my essay.

There are different terms for the unborn child, given at different stages of

pregnancy, by two different groups, shown in the table below:

(Taken from ‘religious tolerance.org’, 23/04/02)

In popular usage, the term embryo is often used to refer to any stage of pre-natal development from 0 to 8 weeks after fertilisation. This definition is going to be used throughout the rest of my essay. This is a microphotograph of a just fertilised ovum, called a zygote:

There are two views on the ethics of embryo research:

The pro-life position: All pro-life conclusions are based on the foundational belief that a human life begins at the time fertilisation of the ovum. This means that the embryo is viewed as a human being with all of the rights of an adult. Experiments, which subject an ovum to any significant risk, are the ethical equivalent of the infamous medical experiments that were inflicted on unwilling and uniformed victims in Nazi death camps. Ends do not justify the means. Thus, no matter how helpful to mankind embryo is eventually killed or subjected to a significant risk. “That way lies the moral approach of a totalitarian society, that thinks it can use and abuse individual human beings in accordance with some grand scheme promising ‘the greatest good for the greatest number.’…If, as modern embryology tells us…[genetically defective embryos]…are indeed part of the continuum of human life, then the notion that genetic flaws enable us to destroy the ‘imperfect’ embryos has implications for the equal dignity of human beings after birth as well.” [Richard Doerflinger, National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Response at a PBS News hour forum (Ref. 6)].

The pro-choice position: Pro-choice beliefs are based on the assumption that a fertilized ovum is not a human being; it is rather potential human life. Pro-choice advocates differ in belief concerning when life becomes human life: Some argue that this happens:

When the foetus resembles a human;
The point of viability when the foetus can live independently, or
When the foetal brain develops to the point where it experiences self-awareness, or
At birth, or
At some other stage of pregnancy.

Creating embryos and/or performing experiments on existing embryos is justifiable if:

The research ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The pro-choice position: Pro-choice beliefs are based on the assumption that a fertilized ovum is not a human being; it is rather potential human life. Pro-choice advocates differ in belief concerning when life becomes human life: Some argue that this happens:

When the foetus resembles a human;
The point of viability when the foetus can live independently, or
When the foetal brain develops to the point where it experiences self-awareness, or
At birth, or
At some other stage of pregnancy.

Creating embryos and/or performing experiments on existing embryos is justifiable if:

The research has a reasonable potential of advancing medical knowledge and enhancing human life, and
If the embryos are killed well before they make the transition to a human person.

For example, if done during the first three weeks following conception, the

embryo is perhaps 2mm long (Appearance of a stage 9 embryo, visembryo.com). “At this early stage of development (before 14 days) the embryo does not have human form or genetic uniqueness. It is a growing collection of cells, which can divide into two and naturally produce identical twins. It is unable to survive outside of the womb, does not have any organ structures including even a primitive brain and it has no degree cognitive development.” [Mark Hughes’ response at PBS News hour forum (Ref 6)].

There are some very strong concerns about embryo research, including cloning. To clone Dolly the sheep, it took 278 attempts (Student Life Net, 101 reasons not to clone human beings, no. 45). Dolly the sheep has suffered quite a few problems, scientists are finding it hard to define the age of her - do they work out her age from when she was born, or from the sheep that she was cloned from? She already has severe arthritis, something that wouldn’t usually occur until the sheep was much older, but is happening to her at the age of three. The scientists that cloned Dolly are trying to find out why this happened, but are yet to discover why. There are also concerns that if cloning human embryos is legalised, people try to create the ‘perfect’ child, that there would be a superior race. These lead to the fear that people such as Hitler could use them to their advantage; he wanted an Aryan race - blonde hair, blue eyes – with this technology, people who have the imperfections that make them who they are would be bred out. This subject is very important, and these fears need to be addressed before any more progress is made.

There is, on the other hand, a strong argument for cloning. Cloning could help lots of people who have debilitating illnesses. There was a case shown last year on the news about a young girl in America who had a hereditary disease that affected a certain part in her body, and the only cure was a donor off somebody. Her parents wanted her to get better, so they had IVF, but the scientists made sure that the embryo didn’t have the bad gene. When the baby was born, part of the baby’s tissue was taken and given to the girl, who after this got better. This shows us that sometimes embryo research can be used for good, and could be used to help people, who in other cases wouldn’t have a chance of life.

Recently, a group at Edinburgh University looking for a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and a team at Guy’s Hospital in London, investigating neural disorders, infertility and miscarriages, have had their applications for embryo research licences granted. The applications approved by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA) are for basic research to develop techniques to handle embryonic material. The paralysed actor, Christopher Reeve welcomed the decision, and told the BBC that he would come to the UK for treatment if it was developed in Britain. The clinics are going to produce stem cell “lines” from “spare” embryos created for IVF treatment, according to the HFEA. In the longer term, researchers may wish to create human embryo clones to understand how they develop. There are serious ethical issues to these new licences that have been granted. At Guy’s hospital, the project will deposit samples in the stem cell bank to develop treatments for neural and pancreatic diseases. There were conditions that specified measures that had to be put in place when carrying out the stem cell work. Supporters of this believe that it will be vital to find ways of regenerating tissues such as nerves, muscle and cartilidge to treat the elderly and disabled. Anti-abortion campaigners believe that equally effective treatments could be developed using adult cells.

In conclusion, there are two opposing views on embryo research, both have very strong views for and against embryo research. These views are very controversial, but both have a convincing argument with the moral ethics and scientific viewpoints. Embryo research can be used for good, but we do have to be careful about who could use this, e.g. Hitler and cloning, and if it would be used for the greater good. If it was given the go ahead, then it would have to be really supervised, and everything should be thought of with much consideration as to what could happen in the long run.

Bibliography

The Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus, 1990.

Religious Tolerance.org, 23/04/02

Richard Doerfinger, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Mark Hughes.

Student Life Net, 23/04/02

BBC News online