So, I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR this morning when they had this article about stem-cell treatments offered by Beike Biotechnology – in China… The article specifically highlights how Americans with little hope of curing ailments (like a family’s blind 7-month-old daughter) are going to China to give these treatments a try. The company uses stem-cells harvested from umbilical cords, so they aren’t embryonic in nature (i.e. somewhat less controversial…). It’ll set you back upwards of $10,000-$20,000 (less the cost of actually getting to China to try it!).
I guess the problem I have with this is on two fronts:
1). There are a variety of ethical concerns from a scientific standpoint, in that (according to the article) there is little research in the field to suggest that implantation of these stem cells should yield any beneficial effect. And by “little research,” I mean in cell culture, rats, mice, etc. Essentially, it seems to me that these people are being given experimental treatments that shouldn’t be given to humans yet. It would be one thing if there was a great deal of promising data to suggest moving forward with human trials, but it seems like this company kind of decided to skip that part and just jump right in on people.
2). What does it say about American policy when people are willing to go to a different country to get these treatments (ethical or not…). According to the article, over 600 foreigners (not necessarily all Americans…) have gone to this company to get the treatment, which thereby means that there are people here in the US and other countries that want the option. However, there are so many restrictions here in the US on experimentation (let alone human trials) that these individuals are forced to go to countries that have “skipped” over the, perhaps, more proper procedures.
Perhaps if the US provided more funding and support for stem cell research, we wouldn’t have Americans traveling overseas to get experimental treatments for their 7-month-old children? I’m not even saying embryonic stem cells (although I’d still like to see more research on them), but even on umbilical cells – without proper funding and support, researchers can’t get the work done, thereby risking other, less ethical, groups coming forward with these treatments and offering them to the public.
Where exactly is the morality of denying money and support for stem cell research when it forces families to go overseas to get treatments that we could have developed ourselves?
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