Some of the ethical dilemmas associated with stem cell research and why I think there should be more restrictions on such research.
When I read about the latest stem cell research into male factor infertility and how doctors had proported to have obtained sperm samples from FEMALE mice, my blood ran cold.
It seemed reminiscent to Mary Shelley's Frankinstein.
I am hugely sympathetic to those who struggle to concieve, that's why I became an egg donor. As a teenager I was told by a mis-informed doctor that I may never have children, and I've watched my best friend go through the heartache of trying for 3 years before she had her daughter. I even offered to carry a baby for her, if she had wanted.
But I do think there should be limits in the type of research done into infertility, and frankly, the idea of women producing sperm sickened me.
We are all created either male or female and each sex has a specific role to play in terms of reproduction. If you take away the male role of producing sperm, what future function would a man have in continuing the species? I can imagine in future times, especially with declining marriage rates, a woman would simply take charge of 100% of her fertility and leave the man out of it altogether. What about the child's right to a father? Of course, there are always going to be single parent families and kids can thrive in them. Fathers might not be present due to divorce or even death, but to even attempt to engineer a child using both eggs and sperm from a female, is in my opinion, unethical and immoral.
It is fair to say that this research is probably decades off becoming any kind of reality, as the female subjects they tested on were mice, not humans, but the fact that female mice have proportedly produced sperm cells is incredibly worrying.
For one, mice are not representative of humans. Their reactions to drugs, experiments and genetic manipulation is not going to be the same or even similar to a human so from a medical standpoint, I don't believe that animal tests have any value in terms of the final outcome.
Secondly, this research has already been done with both male mice and male humans in which sperm cells were created. If the same process can be achieved using male subjects, why would any scientist want to use females?
I believe it is morbid fascination on their part, wanting to push the boundaries and see if something can be done. But my question is, just because it can be done, does that mean it should?
