Stem Cell Research

✍ Scribed by Richard Werner (auth.), James M. Humber, Robert F. Almeder (eds.)

• Publisher: Humana Press
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 181
• Series: Biomedical Ethics Reviews
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Stem cell research holds high promise of providing powerful new treatments for a number of debilitating diseases, even while it raises for some-as a form of human experimentation-a number of difficult moral problems. In Stem Cell Research, a well-seasoned panel of philosophers, ethicists, feminists, and historians examine these moral issues and introduce the principal arguments for and against such research. Among difficult issues considered are these: What reason (or reasons) are there for believing that human embryonic stem cells should (or should not) be accorded the protections ordinarily extended to full members of the human moral community? Would it be wrong to experiment with stem cells taken from human embryos, knowing that such experimentation would lead to the destruction of the embryos, even if they were about to be destroyed and discarded? Does the current use of human embryonic stem cells in research devalue humanity by treating these materials as mere "commodities"? Finally, are the current regulations on stem cell research unjust because they alienate women from their reproductive labor?
Broad in scope and objective in its coverage, Stem Cell Research offers both a balanced presentation and thoughtful critiques of the main arguments in the debate, allowing readers to reach their own conclusions on all the key moral issues associated with today's stem cell research.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xi
An Analogical Argument for Stem Cell Research....Pages 1-22
Marginal Cases and the Moral Status of Embryos....Pages 23-39
Fixations on the Moral Status of the Embryo....Pages 41-57
Nazi Experiments and Stem Cell Research....Pages 59-84
Recent Ethical Controversies About Stem Cell Research....Pages 85-119
Complicity in Embryonic and Fetal Stem Cell Research and Applications....Pages 121-147
Women, Commodification, and Embryonic Stem Cell Research....Pages 149-174
Back Matter....Pages 175-183

✦ Subjects

Theory of Medicine/Bioethics