Bioethics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Health Care Anal. 2010 Sep;18(3):267-78. doi: 10.1007/s10728-009-0136-x. Epub 2009 Oct 7.
A lot of interest has been generated by the possibility of deriving gametes from embryonic stem cells and bone marrow stem cells. These stem cell derived gametes may become useful for research and for the treatment of infertility. In this article we consider prospectively the ethical issues that will arise if stem cell derived gametes are used in the clinic, making a distinction between concerns that only apply to embryonic stem cell derived gametes and concerns that are also relevant for gametes derived from adult stem cells. At present, it appears preferable to use non-embryonic stem cells for the derivation of gametes. Adult stem cell derived gametes do not present any problems with regard to the moral status of the human embryo, bypass the safety risks linked to SCNT and do not present any ambiguity or novel problems with regard to informed consent, psychological consequences for the child or genetic parenthood. A remaining ethical concern, however, regards the safety of the procedure in terms of the welfare of the resulting children. This should spark a thorough reflection on how far one must go to accommodate a person's wish to have a genetically related child.
人们对于从胚胎干细胞和骨髓干细胞中获得配子的可能性产生了浓厚的兴趣。这些由干细胞衍生而来的配子可能会在研究和治疗不孕不育中发挥作用。本文前瞻性地考虑了如果将干细胞衍生的配子用于临床治疗可能会引发的伦理问题，并对仅适用于胚胎干细胞衍生配子的问题和也适用于成人干细胞衍生配子的问题进行了区分。目前，使用非胚胎干细胞来衍生配子似乎更为可取。成人干细胞衍生的配子在人类胚胎的道德地位方面不会产生任何问题，避免了与 SCNT 相关的安全风险，并且在知情同意、孩子的心理后果或遗传父母身份方面也不会产生任何模糊性或新的问题。然而，一个遗留的伦理问题涉及到该程序的安全性，即由此产生的孩子的福利问题。这应该引发人们对一个人希望拥有具有遗传关系的孩子的愿望能够得到多大程度的满足进行深入思考。
