Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research

Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research

Author: Committee on Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research

Publisher:

Published: 2007-03-22

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9780309384384

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It is widely understood that stem cell treatments have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Because of this potential, in 2004 California voters approved Proposition 71 to set up a 10-year, $3 billion program to fund research on stem cells. Under the direction of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, this program will pay to build facilities for stem cell research and will fund doctors and scientists to carry out research with the ultimate goal of helping to develop therapies based on stem cells. For this research to move forward, however, will require a steady supply of stem cells, particularly human embryonic stem cells. Those stem cells are collected from developing human embryos created from eggs-or oocytes-harvested from the ovaries of female donors. Thus much of the promise of stem cells depends on women choosing to donate oocytes to the research effort. The oocyte donation process is not without risk, however. Donors are given doses of hormones to trigger the production of more eggs than would normally be produced, and this hormone treatment can have various side effects. Once the eggs have matured in the ovary, they must be retrieved via a surgical procedure that is typically performed under anesthesia, and both the surgery and the anesthesia carry their own risks. Furthermore, given the very personal nature of egg donation, the experience may carry psychological risks for some women as well. With this in mind, in 2006 the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine contracted with the National Academies to organize a workshop that would bring together experts from various areas to speak about the potential risks of oocyte donation and to summarize what is known and what needs to be known about this topic. The Committee on Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research was formed to plan the workshop, which was held in San Francisco on September 28, 2006. This report is a summary and synthesis of that workshop.


Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research

Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2007-03-22

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 0309179602

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It is widely understood that stem cell treatments have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Because of this potential, in 2004 California voters approved Proposition 71 to set up a 10-year, $3 billion program to fund research on stem cells. Under the direction of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, this program will pay to build facilities for stem cell research and will fund doctors and scientists to carry out research with the ultimate goal of helping to develop therapies based on stem cells. For this research to move forward, however, will require a steady supply of stem cells, particularly human embryonic stem cells. Those stem cells are collected from developing human embryos created from eggs-or oocytes-harvested from the ovaries of female donors. Thus much of the promise of stem cells depends on women choosing to donate oocytes to the research effort. The oocyte donation process is not without risk, however. Donors are given doses of hormones to trigger the production of more eggs than would normally be produced, and this hormone treatment can have various side effects. Once the eggs have matured in the ovary, they must be retrieved via a surgical procedure that is typically performed under anesthesia, and both the surgery and the anesthesia carry their own risks. Furthermore, given the very personal nature of egg donation, the experience may carry psychological risks for some women as well. With this in mind, in 2006 the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine contracted with the National Academies to organize a workshop that would bring together experts from various areas to speak about the potential risks of oocyte donation and to summarize what is known and what needs to be known about this topic. The Committee on Assessing the Medical Risks of Human Oocyte Donation for Stem Cell Research was formed to plan the workshop, which was held in San Francisco on September 28, 2006. This report is a summary and synthesis of that workshop.


Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques

Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-04-17

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0309388708

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Mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs) are designed to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diseases from mother to child. While MRTs, if effective, could satisfy a desire of women seeking to have a genetically related child without the risk of passing on mtDNA disease, the technique raises significant ethical and social issues. It would create offspring who have genetic material from two women, something never sanctioned in humans, and would create mitochondrial changes that could be heritable (in female offspring), and therefore passed on in perpetuity. The manipulation would be performed on eggs or embryos, would affect every cell of the resulting individual, and once carried out this genetic manipulation is not reversible. Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques considers the implications of manipulating mitochondrial content both in children born to women as a result of participating in these studies and in descendants of any female offspring. This study examines the ethical and social issues related to MRTs, outlines principles that would provide a framework and foundation for oversight of MRTs, and develops recommendations to inform the Food and Drug Administration's consideration of investigational new drug applications.


Heritable Human Genome Editing

Heritable Human Genome Editing

Author: The Royal Society

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2021-01-16

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0309671132

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Heritable human genome editing - making changes to the genetic material of eggs, sperm, or any cells that lead to their development, including the cells of early embryos, and establishing a pregnancy - raises not only scientific and medical considerations but also a host of ethical, moral, and societal issues. Human embryos whose genomes have been edited should not be used to create a pregnancy until it is established that precise genomic changes can be made reliably and without introducing undesired changes - criteria that have not yet been met, says Heritable Human Genome Editing. From an international commission of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.K.'s Royal Society, the report considers potential benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with genome editing technologies and defines a translational pathway from rigorous preclinical research to initial clinical uses, should a country decide to permit such uses. The report specifies stringent preclinical and clinical requirements for establishing safety and efficacy, and for undertaking long-term monitoring of outcomes. Extensive national and international dialogue is needed before any country decides whether to permit clinical use of this technology, according to the report, which identifies essential elements of national and international scientific governance and oversight.


Human Stem Cell Manual

Human Stem Cell Manual

Author: Suzanne Peterson

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2012-10-22

Total Pages: 652

ISBN-13: 0123854741

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This manual is a comprehensive compilation of "methods that work" for deriving, characterizing, and differentiating hPSCs, written by the researchers who developed and tested the methods and use them every day in their laboratories. The manual is much more than a collection of recipes; it is intended to spark the interest of scientists in areas of stem cell biology that they may not have considered to be important to their work. The second edition of the Human Stem Cell Manual is an extraordinary laboratory guide for both experienced stem cell researchers and those just beginning to use stem cells in their work. - Offers a comprehensive guide for medical and biology researchers who want to use stem cells for basic research, disease modeling, drug development, and cell therapy applications - Provides a cohesive global view of the current state of stem cell research, with chapters written by pioneering stem cell researchers in Asia, Europe, and North America - Includes new chapters devoted to recently developed methods, such as iPSC technology, written by the scientists who made these breakthroughs


Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning

Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-06-17

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0309076374

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Human reproductive cloning is an assisted reproductive technology that would be carried out with the goal of creating a newborn genetically identical to another human being. It is currently the subject of much debate around the world, involving a variety of ethical, religious, societal, scientific, and medical issues. Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning considers the scientific and medical sides of this issue, plus ethical issues that pertain to human-subjects research. Based on experience with reproductive cloning in animals, the report concludes that human reproductive cloning would be dangerous for the woman, fetus, and newborn, and is likely to fail. The study panel did not address the issue of whether human reproductive cloning, even if it were found to be medically safe, would beâ€"or would not beâ€"acceptable to individuals or society.


Contemporary Bioethics

Contemporary Bioethics

Author: Mohammed Ali Al-Bar

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-05-27

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 3319184288

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This book discusses the common principles of morality and ethics derived from divinely endowed intuitive reason through the creation of al-fitr' a (nature) and human intellect (al-‘aql). Biomedical topics are presented and ethical issues related to topics such as genetic testing, assisted reproduction and organ transplantation are discussed. Whereas these natural sources are God’s special gifts to human beings, God’s revelation as given to the prophets is the supernatural source of divine guidance through which human communities have been guided at all times through history. The second part of the book concentrates on the objectives of Islamic religious practice – the maqa' sid – which include: Preservation of Faith, Preservation of Life, Preservation of Mind (intellect and reason), Preservation of Progeny (al-nasl) and Preservation of Property. Lastly, the third part of the book discusses selected topical issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction devices, genetics, organ transplantation, brain death and end-of-life aspects. For each topic, the current medical evidence is followed by a detailed discussion of the ethical issues involved.


Stem Cells

Stem Cells

Author: Ariff Bongso

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 721

ISBN-13: 9814289388

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Stem cell biology has drawn tremendous interest in recent years as it promises cures for a variety of incurable diseases. This book deals with the basic and clinical aspects of stem cell research and involves work on the full spectrum of stem cells isolated today. It also covers the conversion of stem cell types into a variety of useful tissues which may be used in the future for transplantation therapy. It is thus aimed at undergraduates, postgraduates, scientists, embryologists, doctors, tissue engineers and anyone who wishes to gain some insight into stem cell biology. This book is important as it is comprehensive and covers all aspects of stem cell biology, from basic research to clinical applications. It will have 33 chapters written by renowned stem cell scientists worldwide. It will be up-to-date and all the chapters include self-explanatory figures, color photographs, graphics and tables. It will be easy to read and give the reader a complete understanding and state of the art of the exciting science and its applications.


Freezing Fertility

Freezing Fertility

Author: Lucy van de Wiel

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2020-12-15

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1479803626

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Welcomed as liberation and dismissed as exploitation, egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) has rapidly become one of the most widely-discussed and influential new reproductive technologies of this century. In Freezing Fertility, Lucy van de Wiel takes us inside the world of fertility preservation—with its egg freezing parties, contested age limits, proactive anticipations and equity investments—and shows how the popularization of egg freezing has profound consequences for the way in which female fertility and reproductive aging are understood, commercialized and politicized. Beyond an individual reproductive choice for people who may want to have children later in life, Freezing Fertility explores how the rise of egg freezing also reveals broader cultural, political and economic negotiations about reproductive politics, gender inequities, age normativities and the financialization of healthcare. Van de Wiel investigates these issues by analyzing a wide range of sources—varying from sparkly online platforms to heart-breaking court cases and intimate autobiographical accounts—that are emblematic of each stage of the egg freezing procedure. By following the egg’s journey, Freezing Fertility examines how contemporary egg freezing practices both reflect broader social, regulatory and economic power asymmetries and repoliticize fertility and aging in ways that affect the public at large. In doing so, the book explores how the possibility of egg freezing shifts our relation to the beginning and end of life.


The National Bioethics Advisory Commission

The National Bioethics Advisory Commission

Author: Elisa Eiseman

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9780833033642

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The National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) was established in 1995 to advise various government entities on issues arising from research on human biology and behavior. During its five-year tenure, NBAC submitted six reports to the White House containing 120 recommendations on several complex bioethical issues including the cloning of human beings and embryonic stem cell research. This study assesses NBAC's contribution to policymaking by tracking the response to NBAC's recommendations from the president, Congress, government, societies and foundations, other countries, and international groups.