Focus on the Embryo

Barcelona, Spain | January 23-25, 2009

Meeting Summary:

Reprogramming adult somatic cells makes it possible to produce induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Like the embryonic stem (ES) cells, iPS cells can give raise to any cell type of the body, but by contrast to ES cells, obtaining iPS cells do not require the destruction of human embryos. Many leading stem cell scientists are turning to the iPS cells technique, which is even questioning the utility of ES cell research.

Nevertheless iPS cells are opening the door to other big ethical challenges. It has been observed that it is theoretically possible to transform iPS cells into “artificial” sperm and eggs. If this were to become routine, gametes could be combined at will and embryos could be grown in culture like other cell lines. They would then more easily become objectified and invite genetic selection.

Using iPS cells for such developments will surely fuel the discussion about the moral status of human embryos. Scholars at this meeting recognized the importance of studying more in depth some unsolved queries regarding the moral status of cell entities. After the achievements with iPS cells it no longer makes sense to propose ANT, parthenotes or dead embryos as alternative methods for deriving stem cells. The key question becomes instead how to distinguish between a human cell with the moral status of a human person, and one without personhood in order to ethically assess new methods of therapy and research involving stem cells.

Principal Inquiries:

Are cell entities that carry genomic defects that prevent implantation sick embryos or non-embryos?

Is implantation decisive for the moral status of the human embryo?

Do new discovered epigenetic mechanisms in the 2-cell stage support the individuality of the human embryo?

Are cell entities that stop dividing and developing dead embryos? How can the death of an embryo be defined?

How can we ascertain a personal presence in a cellular entity?

How can we determine the moral status of transgenic (human-animal hybrid) cellular material, and the biological status of the products of altered nuclear transfer?

Speakers:

Nicanor Austriaco - Providence College
Complete Moles and Parthenotes are Not Organisms: A Reply to Pietro Ramelllini

Neville Cobbe - University of Edinburg
Crazy Chimeras? Interspecies Mixtures and the Status of Humanity

Maureen Condic - University of Utah
Pre-implantation Stages of Human Development: the Biological and Moral Status of Early Embryos

Joachim Huarte - University of Geneva
Embryos Grown in Culture Deserve the Same Moral Status as Embryos After Implantation: A Proposal for a New Experimental Test

William B. Hurlbut - Stanford University
The Boundaries of Humanity: the Ethics of Human-Animal Chimeras in Cloning and Stem Cell Research

Manfred Spieker - Osnabrück University
Between Freedom of Research and Protection of the Embryo: The Debate About Bioethics in Germany

Antoine Suarez - Center for Quantum Philosophy
Embryos Grown in Culture Deserve the Same Moral Status as Embryos After Implantation: A Proposal for a New Experimental Test

Helen Watt - Anscombe Bioethics Centre
Altered Nuclear Transfer: Identifying Embryos; Respecting Procreation

Discussants:

José Manual Giménez Amaya - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Benjamin Hurlbut - Harvard University
David Albert Jones - St. Mary's University College
Calum MacKellar - Scottish Council on Human Bioethics
Luis Montuenga - University of Navarra
Enrique Prat - University of Salzburg
Josephine Quintavalle - CORE
Pablo Requena - Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
Russell Wilcox - Thomas More Institute

Read abstracts of the presented papers.

Look for the resulting publication, Is This Cell a Human Being? Exploring the Status of Embyos, Stem Cells and Human-Animal Hybrids, from Springer in August, 2011.