Over the past few weeks I’ve had the privilege to learn about the various topics and categories of what we know as engineering and topics. From our lectures, 2 topics had especially stood out to me, and these were stem cells, and Bioethics. And they went surprisingly hand in hand.

What are stem cells?

Stem cells utilise the ability of differentiation to the max by possessing the gift of differentiating into any of the cells in our body, asymmetrically or symmetrically. Just from this you can see they have the potential to make many strides in modern medicine, in fact there have already been papers regarding their use in surgeries already. 

An example of stem cells potential in surgeries can be their use in deep tissue repair following burns to the face.

A paper from Ncbi states: current treatments with skin replacement aren’t capable of generating fully functional skin, and mentions “ administration of growth factors has occurred, it comes with many consequences- in summary : “ using stem cells in treating burns is justified here, as stem cells are able to secrete these growth factors in a sustained manner”(Kareem NA, et al (2021))  Allowing me to believe they’re a more beneficial alternative to current components in surgery. 

My own research on other articles concerning stem cells, left me with a lasting impression on how they can revolutionise modern medicine in the future. HOWEVER, I was reminded of our ethics and law lectures, and while stem cells are viewed in such an amazing light, they can easily be abused and researched with the wrong intent. 

After reading multiple articles I noticed that the intent of research always originates from the researchers own moral compass. Which correlates to the theory on consequentialism, it defines the right action in terms  of promotion of good consequences, concerned with maximising the good outcome.

Ensuring the benefit of humanity isn’t perceived as exploring our potential evolutionary consequences. 

FROM A RELIGIOUS POV 

Christianity- found in a paper published by the University of Notre Dame 

“Clearly, the church favours ethically acceptable stem cell research” however later states “we must respect life at all times especially when your goal is to save lives”. Telling me that, we want to respect life as much as possible so in the future, when research has developed further, we don’t overshadow our morals as human beings by exploring humanities limits through human subjects. 

Islamic perspective: an article on Georgetown explains that “ they’ve prohibited using embryonic stem cells which have the potential to develop into a life in research as it entails their destruction during the process of procurement”. 

Explaining that if using stem cells in the lab involves developing a life form to be used for experimentation, it cannot be condoned as morally right because in the later stages of development is when they believe this life form is endowed with a soul. 

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR US IN THE FUTURE

In my opinion Stem cells will help solve various problems in medicine in the future, these include the issue of waiting for donors for a transplant, or an alternative to animal experimentation. I believe that those conducting research using stem cells only view it as a means to benefit us without compromising our moral compasses as human beings. 

CONCLUSION 

To conclude, the use of stem cell research provide an essential role both now and in the future for counteracting various problems in the medical field, ranging from unforeseen diseases yet to sprout, to limbs lost during accidents causing trauma. However this only applies if they’re used for the specific benefit they have in mind, and there is a thin line between using stem cells as a means for improving our quality of life, and using stem cells to explore the capabilities of us as humans.