3 Assignments

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Genetic Engineering, Stem

Cell Research, and Human Cloning

Chapter 13

Learning Objectives

 After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

 13.1 Explain the difference between positive and negative genetic

engineering.

 13.2 Evaluate the ethical issues involved in stem cell research.

 13.3 Evaluate the ethical issues involved in human cloning.

Bio-ethical Issues

 Some of the topics of bioethics may seem too technical (or too far- fetched to be discussed in a contemporary moral issue course); I,

myself, thought this might be the case. I believed it might be too

technical or simply too far removed from our everyday experiences

to be pertinent to the students in the course. Many of the topics

seemed like an episode of X-files as opposed to actual everyday life

to be relevant to students.

In hindsight (with the benefit of some research), I see that nothing

could have been further from the truth. A little empirical

investigation determined that scientists were genetically modifying

food, screening the DNA of humans before birth, cloning animals,

and creating plant/animal hybrids

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Types of Genetic Engineering

 Negative-Correct a genetic defect

 Positive-Make a life-form better. AKA, Eugenics- make

improvements upon organism.

Types of Genetic Therapy

 Somatic Therapy

 Germ line Therapy

Somatic Therapy

 Somatic therapy is a type of genetic therapy that only affects the

individual.

 Changes are not passed on to any subsequent generations or off

spring.

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Germ Line Therapy

 Germ line therapy is a type of genetic therapy that not only affects

the individual but also the off spring.

 Changes are passed on to subsequent generations.

Splicing

 Splicing is a method where genes from one organism are

“spliced” into the DNA of another organism.

This is the most common method of genetic engineering.

Philosophical Views

 Conservative

 Michael Ruse

“Can we do better than God?”

 Liberal

 Jonathan Glover

“Decisions: the Genetic Supermarket”

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Michael Ruse

 Argues that we cannot get it better than God. His main point is that if we make everyone with superhuman powers and abilities the world will become a dramatically different and radically worse place.

 The awe of human creation and achievement will be lost, with everyone excelling at everything.

Jonathan Glover

 Argues that both positive and negative genetic engineering are morally permissible.

 He employs the philosophical argument of Robert Nozick, a libertarian.

 Most libertarians are against any government interference in the private affairs of citizens, but Nozick recognizes the inherent dangers in genetic engineering and suggest a system of government regulation at the "genetic supermarket".

Genetic Supermarket

 In the genetic supermarket parents would have a limited voice in

opting for genetic engineering of both positive and negative

features.

 The government would simply ensure that no dangerous

modifications were made.

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The Council for Responsible Genetics

(CRG)  Opposes the use of germ-line therapy in humans. Further any

changes made to an organism at an embryonic stage have the

potential to be passed on to future generations, like Germ line

therapy.

 The goal of cleansing the gene pool of recessive genes and to

improve the human organism would take thousands of years.

Further, such benefits would only be realized by families and not by

the population as a whole.

Dolly the Sheep

 In 1997 Scientist in Scotland cloned the first mammal- Dolly the sheep. Not everyone was pleased.

 In 2003 Dolly passed away from complications related to her cloning.

$50,000 to Clone Your Cat!

 In 2002 scientist cloned the worlds first cat.

 In 2004 a woman paid $ 50,000 to have her dead cat cloned.

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Choose The Sex of Your Baby!

 In vitro Fertilization has been used for years to help couples have

babies.

 PGD- Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis can be used to sort

embryos before they are implanted.

Choose Your Trait

 Eyes

 Skin Color

 Hair

 Weight

 Height

 Sex

Splicing

 Splicing is a method where genes from one organism are

“spliced” into the DNA of another organism. This is the most

common method of genetic engineering.

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Spliced Pigs

 Gene splicing improves pork farm waste

 In the last few years, scientists at Ontario's University of Guelph

have created Enviropigs™, a line of transgenic pigs containing

both mouse and bacterial chromosomes; the pigs cost less to

feed and produce less noxious manure.

USDA Organic

 The USDA now certifies all food that has an organic label to be

tested.

 What it means: Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides

 Fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge;

 Bioengineering; (genetic Engineering.)

 Ionizing radiation.

 Which means conventional foods may have all of these.

To get the seal…

 Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-

approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to

make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet

USDA organic standards.

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Organic Food Contaminated

 A variety of foods marked ‘organic’ or ‘GM-free’ sold in the United

Kingdom have been found to contain genetically modified (GM)

ingredients.

Researchers found that out of 25 organic or health food products

that should have been GM-free, 10 contained GM soy.

Mix and Match Crops

 The United States and Argentina, two of the largest soy producers in

the world, produce mostly GM soy, and GM-free crops are often

mixed with GM crops after harvesting.

Further, seeds that are supposed to be GM-free can contain from 1

percent to 2 percent GM varieties. \

Over 60 percent of processed foods sole in supermarkets contain

soy ingredients.

 Researchers suggest that it will become increasingly difficult to keep

organic products GM-free and even say that the problem will be 10

times worse in just one year.

Two Types

 Embryonic- created by means of in vitro fertilization. They are

harvested after 5-6 days from a cell know as a blastocyst.

They do not come from aborted fetuses. They have the potential to change into any type of cell found

in body.

 Adult – found in bone marrow. Harvested at any time in a

adult person’s life.

Potential to become only a limited number of specialized

cells.

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Stem Cells

 Embryonic Stem cells the potential to develop into many different cell types in the body.

 Theoretically divide without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive.

 Each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle

cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Two Important Traits

 Stem cells have two important characteristics that distinguish them from other types of cells.

 They are unspecialized cells that renew themselves for long periods through cell division.

 They can become cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart

For Over 20 Years

 Scientists discovered ways to obtain or derive stem cells from early

mouse embryos more than 20 years ago.

 In 1998, they discovered how to isolate stem cells from human

embryos and grow the cells in the laboratory.

 These are called human embryonic stem cells

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Embryonic Stem Cells (continued)

 Embryonic Stem Cells, are derived from embryos that develop from

eggs that have been fertilized in vitro- in an in vitro fertilization

clinic—and then donated for research purposes with informed

consent of the donors.

 They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman's body.

Blastocyst

 The embryos from which human embryonic stem cells are derived

are typically five or six days old and are a hollow microscopic ball of

cells called the blastocyst.

Adult Stem Cell

 An undifferentiated cell found in a differentiated tissue that

can renew itself and (with certain limitations) differentiate to

yield all the specialized cell types of the tissue from which it

originated.

 For example, an adult stem cell found in the liver could become any type of cell found in the organ.

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In All Parts of Our Body

 Adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, contain adult stem cells that can generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.

 Recently a comatose patient regenerated neural tissue. This was documented in the by scientist.

 This could be a result of stem cells.

Adult Stem Cells (continued)

 The primary roles of adult stem cell in a living organism are to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found.

 Some scientists now use the term somatic stem cell instead of adult stem cell.

 Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are defined by their origin (the inner cell mass of the blastocyst), the origin of adult stem cells in mature tissues is unknown.

History of Adult Stem Cells

 In the 1960s, researchers discovered that the bone marrow contains

at least two kinds of stem cells.

 Hematopoietic stem cells form all the types of blood cells in the body.

 Bone marrow stromal cells were discovered a few years later. Stromal

cells are a mixed cell population that generates bone, cartilage, fat, and fibrous connective tissue.

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Adult Stem Cells in The Body

 Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and tissues. There are a very small number of stem cells in each tissue.

 Stem cells are thought to reside in a specific area of each tissue where they may remain (non-dividing) for many years until they are activated by disease or tissue injury.

 The adult tissues reported to contain stem cells include brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood, blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin and liver.

The Promise of Stem Cells

 Some of the most serious medical conditions, such as cancer and

birth defects, are due to problems that occur somewhere in this

process.

 A better understanding of normal cell development will allow us to

understand and perhaps correct the errors that cause these

medical conditions.

Embryonic Stem Cell Therapies

 Scientists have been able to do experiments with human embryonic

stem cells (hESC) only since 1998, when a group led by Dr. James

Thompson at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to

isolate and grow the cells.

 Federal funds to support hESC research have been available since

only August 9, 2001, when Former President Bush announced his

decision on Federal funding for hESC research.

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Former President Bush on Stem Cells

 “Research on embryonic stem cells raises profound ethical

questions, because extracting the stem cell destroys the embryo,

and thus destroys its potential for life. Like a snowflake, each of

these embryos is unique, with the unique genetic potential of an

individual human being.”

Federal Funding for Existing Cells

 “As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically

diverse stem cell lines already exist. They were created from

embryos that have already been destroyed, and they have

the ability to regenerate themselves indefinitely, creating

ongoing opportunities for research. I have concluded that we

should allow federal funds to be used for research on these

existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has

already been made.” – Former President Bush

 The ban on Stem Cell funding was lifted by President Obama

in 2009.

Michael J. Fox’s View

 “Stem cell research is a critical pathway to a cure... Stem cells can

be used for cell replacement therapy, to actually produce neurons

that have been lost.

 You can't do research on living human neurons. But you can use

stem cells to create them and study how they work and the impact

of various drugs. It's huge.”

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Stanford University Scientist Irving

Weissman:  Warns that the country risks falling behind South Korea, China,

Britain and Colombia and other countries in biomedical research if

the Bush administration and Congress continue to restrict embryonic

stem cell research for philosophical and religious reasons.

Historically, Regulation . .

 In the past, the United States regulated, but never banned,

controversial research.

In contrast, Russia did ban research and fell decades behind in the

1930s when it banned genetics research.

Stem Cells, Promise and failure

 Results of stem cell transplants in rats have been mixed.

 So research appeared to show it was successful

 Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York

experimented with rats which had a condition mimicking Parkinson's

disease.

 When treated with mature neurons which had been created from

human embryonic stem cells, they recovered all their lost motor

function.

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Cell Replacement in Rats

 Ten weeks after the transplant, the rats' brains were examined. To

the dismay of the researchers, only about one-fifth of the

transplanted cells were now producing dopamine (the chemical

lacking in patients with Parkinson's).

 The rest had begun dividing uncontrollably into benign brain tumors.

Cell Replacement in Rats (2)

 “First, the number of neurons producing dopamine fell sharply after one month, even though they had been "highly enriched" and differentiated cells.

 Second, "their persistent, uncontrolled and grossly homogeneous expansion over a 10-week span before the animals were killed nonetheless suggested graft-associated tumorigenesis".

 And it seemed clear, too, that the problem was not contamination by undifferentiated embryonic stem cells. The very cells which were supposed to cure caused the tumours.

Cell Replacement in Rats (3)

 The experiment provokes many questions, as the researchers do not

know what would happen to the cells after 10 days. But they urge

caution for therapeutic applications, "given the phenotypic

instability and potential for undifferentiated donor cell expansion". ~

Nature Medicine Sydney Morning Herald.

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Stanford University Scientist,

Irving Weissman:

 Warns that the country risks falling behind South Korea, China, Britain and Colombia and other countries in biomedical research if the Bush

administration and Congress continue to restrict embryonic stem cell research for philosophical and religious reasons.

Why Clone?

 “Cloning will help us put an end to so many diseases, give infertile

men the chance to have children. We can't miss this opportunity”

~Doctor Severino Antinori

Doctor Severino Antinori

 An Italian gynecologist who runs a fertility clinic in Rome has announced plans to clone the first human being.

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Cloner and Baby Maker

 Italian embryologist Dr Severino Antinori is at the centrer of the heated debate on human cloning.

 Three years ago, Dr Antinori announced plans to use cloning technology to help infertile couples have children. The technology had been pioneered by British scientists to produce Dolly the sheep, the world's first vertebrate clone made from an adult mammalian cell.

Clone is Coming

 Earlier in 2005, Dr Antinori predicted that he would complete the first

human cloning operation within 18 months.

 The 55-year-old Dr Antinori was previously best known for his work in

in vitro fertilization and, in particular, for enabling women in their 50s

and 60s to give birth.

63 Year Old Mommy

 In 1994 he helped a 63-year-old woman to have a baby by

implanting a donor's fertilized egg in her uterus, making her the

oldest known women in the world to give birth.

 Recently a different 60+ year old woman had her 4th child!

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“I will make a human clone!”

 Dr Antinori, who runs a fertility clinic in Rome, plans to make his

method of human cloning available to couples who cannot have

children by any other means - for example, when test tube

fertilization is impossible because the man produces no sperm.

Cloning Daddy

 Genetic material from the father would be injected into an egg,

which would then be implanted into the woman's womb to grow.

 The resulting child would, in theory, have exactly the same physical

characteristics as the father.

 Example: Boba Fett of Star Wars

1500 Volunteers

 Dr Antinori told an Italian newspaper recently that more than 1,500

couples had volunteered as candidates for his research program

and that he planned to start producing embryo clones in

November 2005.

 He is working in close co-operation with Dr Panos Zavos, an

American fertility expert.

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Banned in EU and US

 The practice of human cloning is banned in Europe and formal

legislation is now going through Congress in the United States.

A Hidden Lab

 Dr Antinori has proposed carrying out the procedure in an

unnamed Mediterranean country or on a boat in international

waters.

It’s the media’s fault.

 In 1998, Dr Antinori told the BBC it would be immoral to try to clone

humans just for the sake of it, but he justified his work as an attempt

to help infertile couples.

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Dr Antinori

 "Generally, people are against human cloning, and I blame the

media for pre-judging it. I want to bring society with me, and

persuade people that it is right in rare cases to help infertile

couples."

Doctor defends IVF for Woman,

63 Years Old!

 A controversial fertility doctor has defended his decision

to give IVF to a 63-year-old woman who is set to become

Britain's oldest mother.

 Dr Antinori is her doctor; he has said age 62 or 63 was the

upper limit for IVF in healthy women.

Doctor Severino Antinori Said

 He said he would only consider couples with at least 20 years' life

expectancy left for fertility treatment but argued that older people

made better parents.

 He said Patricia and her husband John Farrant had come to him at

his clinic in Rome, where he specializes in treating older women,

three years ago and informed him about their wish to have a baby.

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Doctor Severino Antinori said:

 "When the couple love each other they naturally want to have a

baby.

 "Age isn't important in this decision - what's important is the physical

condition of the mother."

Researchers in South Korea

 Claimed to have cloned embryos in order to attain embryonic stem cells. Those embryos could have been implanted in a woman to create the first human clones. In other words ,the cloning technology already exist,. The question is whether or not it should ever be used.

Hwang Woo-suk

 Korean scientist, Hwang Woo-suk, the lead researcher in Korea’s

stem cell research has been accused of several ethical violations

and has also been accused of falsifying research.

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Want a job, give me your eggs .

 Hwang Woo-suk is accused of pressuring several female co

workers into “donating” their ovum for research!

Send in The Clones?

 Dr Hwang stepped down as professor at Seoul National University (SNU) after an investigating panel said a key paper on custom stem cells was, in large part, fabricated.

 Now, the panel has concluded that his landmark claim in 2004 to have produced the first stem cell line from a cloned human embryo was also false.

Dr. Hwang Woo-suk

 In 2006 Dr. Hwang Woo-suk announced that he is back in business

and has decided he will continue research on stem cells and

clones.

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Sexual Reproduction is Obsolete

 Scientists have now made sexual reproduction obsolete! Now,

strictly speaking, sexual reproduction has been unnecessary for over

20 years- since the advent of successful in vitro fertilization. p. 137

Some Think This Is a Good Thing

 In vitro fertilization is a method where sperm and egg are united to form a single cell zygote outside of the human body- within a laboratory setting. This zygote is then implanted into a woman’s womb with the hopes of producing a viable pregnancy. Although some philosophers, such as Andrea Dworkin[1] have argued that this is a good thing- since heterosexual sex is immoral, most people do not agree. [1] Intercourse; New York: The Free Press, 1987

Parthenogenesis

 Scientists have used a technique called parthenogenesis - a form of

reproduction in which the egg develops without fertilization - on

human cells.

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Parthenogenesis (2)

 The phenomenon has been observed to occur naturally in many

insects, and artificial parthenogenesis has been achieved in almost

all groups of animals, but it usually results in abnormal development

and embryos that die after a few days.

Parthenogenesis (3)

 Amazons created in lab!

 This process can be used to create a baby without sperm.

 It only creates female off-spring.