Is altered nuclear transfer ethical?

Monday, March 20. 2006

Is altered nuclear transfer ethical?

I have written on altered nuclear transfer (ANT) many times. But for those who want an indepth discussion on whether ANT is ethical read this fabulous entry from Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex. (I just don't have the patience or the theological chops to create such a complete and thoughtful entry.)

Posted by Rebecca Taylor in Alternatives to Cloning at 12:10 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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Well, you know where I stand:

46 Chromosomes - the genetic composition of a human.

Artificially altering the expression of those genes does not change their inherent composition.

Again, the boundaries of the debate have the ESC proponents arguing on technicalities, and its opponents arguing from common sense.

The more I learn about ANT (including any of its variants), the more I think it even more cruel and inhumane than SCNT.

SCNT murders a developing human; but ANT intentionally acts to render a developing human incapable of completing its development process, and then using that alteration to call that developing human something non- or sub-human.

#1 cb (Homepage) on 2006-03-20 15:07 (Reply)

Chip,

Thanks for the comment. I do certainly know where you stand on ANT. I tend to agree with you, although I am waiting for official Church teaching to cement by view.

That being said, I can appreciate the view that just like a skin cell that also has all the DNA to be an organism, but does not express the genes to be a complete organism, and therefore is not an organism, the entity produced by ANT also does not have the right genes expressed to be a complete organism, and therefore is not an organism.

But, I think because there is uncertainty about what exactly ANT creates and there can never be certainty, we should err on the side of caution and say ANT is unethical.

#1.1 Rebecca on 2006-03-20 15:34 (Reply)

I could agree with the skin cell argument, if we were talking about altered skin cells... but, there's a reason this research is being performed on embryoes - altered or otherwise: they develop stem cells.

That they can still develop stem cells indicates that they are entities attempting to develop into a human.

Skin cells never attempt to develop into a human. (Isn't that the whole supposed reason that adult cells and adult stem cells are "inferior" to ESCs?)

Personally, I pray for breakthrough in the research into restoring pluripotency to ASCs. Once that process is known, research into ESCs will be moot - at least, with respect to unbiased stem-cell research.

#1.1.1 cb (Homepage) on 2006-03-20 15:54 (Reply)

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