Do you know what fetal tissue donation is? Read this article to learn the basics of fetal tissue donation and the science behind it. This site also features a detailed primer on the subject.
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A fetus is an embryo from the end of the eighth week of pregnancy, when the fetus’s structure begins to take shape, until the child is born.
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The tissues of dead human fetuses or offspring are donated for research purposes when the embryo dies owing to any errors, chronic bleeding, or spontaneous abortion, or naturally. Please keep reading to find out more information about fetal tissue donation.
Where Was The Donation Of Fetal Tissues Go?
It is normal practice for medical professionals and scientists to receive fetal tissue from a variety of organizations (e.g. clinics, donation banks funded by the Institutes of Health, and local abortion providers). Tissue is often obtained, tested, and shipped directly from the source to the research institution via second-person donors.
12 Things You Should Know About Fetal Tissue Research and Donation
Human fetal tissue comes from aborted fetuses
Development of the human fetus begins at week 9 following conception (the 11th week of pregnancy). Miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and induced abortion are all viable methods for harvesting human embryonic tissue or organs for scientific study. However, a report by the Congressional Research Service on fetal tissue indicates that medical researchers favor using fetal tissue obtained through forced abortion. Fetal tissue obtained during high-risk pregnancies, such as ectopic pregnancies or spontaneous abortions, is “usually not appropriate for research reasons.”
Fetal tissue is hard to replace in research.
In the scientific community, fetal tissue has many applications. Cell cultures can be made from tissue and stored in a lab for a long time. According to a CRS report, lab-grown cells are ideal models for studying fundamental biological processes because they retain many of the same characteristics as their living counterparts. In an essay published in Nature in December, Carrie Wolinetz, the associate director for science policy at the National Institutes of Health, explained why fetal tissue is so valuable to the scientific community. She elaborated that “fetal tissue” is “a flexible, less-differentiated tissue.” Since it develops rapidly and adapts to varied environments, it allows scientists to conduct research into fundamental biological processes or use it as a tool in ways that are not possible with adult tissue.
This tissue is not easily replaced by a model or simulation on a computer. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professor Akhilesh Pandey told the Baltimore Sun that “it’s best to study the real thing” when researching a procedure. For almost a decade, he has used fetal tissue in his research on cancer. It’s not always possible to model everything that we’d like to look into. We still don’t fully understand how the human body operates, even now. It is possible to create skin and cartilage in the lab, but not organs. The dynamics here are more complex.
Fetal tissue has been used in medical research since the 1930s
Alta Charo, a leading bioethicist and professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law and School of Medicine & Public Health, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that despite the controversy, research on human embryonic stem cells has been going on for nearly a century and “virtually every person in this country has benefited.” In the New England Journal of Medicine, Charo’s research was published. Each and every child can express gratitude to the Nobel laureates and other scientists whose work led to the development of vaccines that protect us from diseases like chickenpox, rubella, and polio (and give even the unvaccinated the benefit of herd immunity). This research has been ongoing for almost a century, and the vaccines it produced are still in use today.
It continues to play a critical role in research today
N.I.H. press media chief Renate Myles told Cosmopolitan.com that human fetal tissue “continues to have a critical function” in the development of an Ebola vaccine and innovative treatments for HIV/AIDS. Researchers studying disorders of human development such as Down syndrome and early brain development with links to autism and schizophrenia will find it extremely useful. The Zika virus is now considered a public health emergency worldwide because of studies involving newly-born fetal tissues, as announced by the World Health Organization. It’s possible that our ability to learn more about the virus will be hampered by regulations prohibiting the use of fetal tissue in research.
Researchers get fetal tissue from several places: abortion providers, tissue banks, or a company supplier
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The New York Times reports that researchers can obtain fetal tissue from “abortion clinics at their own universities,” “tissue banks established by some colleges,” and “[m]any firms that operate as intermediaries.” Despite the controversy generated by the videos, only “a handful of [Planned Parenthood] clinics in two states supply fetal tissue for research,” according to Nature, and the Times reports that abortion providers are paid “small fees” for fetal tissue specimens, which providers say are reimbursement costs. As a result of the backlash, however, Planned Parenthood no longer pursues payment for the use of fetal tissue in the limited settings in which it was collected.
In order to make a profit, the companies that process the tissue sell it to researchers at a steep markup of over $2,000 per vial. Still, there is no legal prohibition against this. The founder of a well-known fetal tissue source recently told the New York Times that his company had to raise prices because of the high costs associated with isolating cells or tissue, preserving it, and shipping it overseas. Cate Dyer, inventor of StemExpress, claims that isolating specific fetal cells can “need millions of dollars of technology” and cost “thousands of dollars,” with no guarantee of success. However, there is some wiggle room in the legislation since while it is illegal for suppliers to make a profit on the tissue itself, federal law does not specify how much suppliers can charge for processing and delivery.
The federal government has supported the use of fetal tissue for medical research for decades
The National Institutes of Health have supported fetal tissue research since the 1950s. In 2014, the National Institutes of Health awarded grants and funded research worth up to $76 million to more than 50 universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and MIT.
There are numerous restrictions on federal funding of human fetal tissue used in research
After abortion was made legal in 1973, there was a national conversation over fetal tissue donation and usage in research. A government committee met and decided that patients could not be offered financial incentives to have an abortion and that scientists “would have no influence in any decisions as to the time, manner, or techniques that are utilized to end a pregnancy.”
After the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, it became illegal to use human fetal tissue in transplants. The legislation allows for reasonable reimbursement for the costs associated with the collection, processing, preservation, quality control, and storage of human fetal tissue. Women are not asked about fetal tissue donation until after they have given their consent to an abortion, and they have no say in the use made of the tissue once it has been donated. Clinton’s legislation restricts fetal tissue transplant research to that which receives federal funding. In spite of this, “most clinics and most researchers seek to meet the same government criteria, even when it is not essential,” as Charo pointed out.
Most states have laws regulating fetal tissue donation.
Each of the fifty states now follows the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of 1968, a model statute for controlling the distribution of donated human organs, tissues, and other bodily structures. In 38 states and the District of Columbia, “UAGA legislation that clearly view fetal tissue the same manner as other human tissue, allowing it to be donated by the woman for research, therapy, or education,” are on the books. The legality of fetal tissue donation is not established under these states’ remaining 12 UAGA statutes. Some states, according to Guttmacher, have additional regulations forbidding the sale and procurement of fetal tissue or requiring patient consent prior to donation.
A growing number of states arecurbing the ability to use donated fetal tissue for research — and some have outright banned the donation of fetal tissue
There are states that allow for fetal tissue donation, yet forbid fetal tissue research. This effectively bans the use of any fetal tissue obtained through a legitimate abortion procedure in any research. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “the first laws to ever criminalize the donation of fetal tissue” have been passed in five states as a direct result of the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood. According to Guttmacher’s head of public policy, Heather Boonstra, fetal tissue donation is currently illegal regardless of previous legislation. Currently, the collection and use of fetal tissue for research purposes is prohibited in South Dakota, whereas in Indiana, a ban on fetal tissue donation requires the cremation or burial of aborted children. Guttmacher reports that there are currently eight states with laws limiting fetal tissue donation and/or research.
In my opinion, these recent legal changes are just the beginning. Since the release of the undercover Planned Parenthood videos, 28 states have initiated legislation to prohibit fetal tissue research.
The anti-abortion debate has stalled fetal tissue research before
The Guttmacher Policy Report states that after Roe v. Wage legalized abortion in 1973, “antiabortion politicians in Congress seized on fetal tissue research as a weapon in the campaign against abortion.” After much back-and-forth, an interim prohibition on federal financing for fetal tissue research was enacted in order to give time for the development of ethical guidelines for the use of fetal tissue in federally supported research. Research on fetal tissue transplantation was booming until the Reagan government cut off federal funding in 1988. A new, neutral ethics commission has been set up to investigate the morality of fetal tissue transplantation. This committee reached the conclusion that it is ethical to use tissue from human fetuses that have been discarded after abortion. On the other side, Reagan ignored the commission’s recommendation and maintained the moratorium. Charo explains, “The task continued on, it just went on more slowly, and of course, went on in other nations.” The restriction was lifted by executive order signed by President Clinton on December 31, 1993.
FAQs
What is fetal tissue donation?
A human fetus (Latin for “offspring”) is a developing human being from the end of the eighth week after conception, when most of the main structures have established, until delivery. Tissue (including complete organs) can be legally donated for research purposes after the fetus dies, either naturally or through an abortion.
Where do fetal tissue donations go?
A human fetus (Latin for “offspring”) is a developing human being from the end of the eighth week after conception, when most of the main structures have established, until delivery. Tissue (including complete organs) can be legally donated for research purposes after the fetus dies, either naturally or through an abortion.
Is fetal tissue donation ethical?
Fetus (Latin for “offspring”) is the term used to describe a human being from the time of conception (at the end of the eighth week, when most of the major structures have formed) until birth. Tissue (including full organs) can be legally donated for research purposes after the fetus dies, either spontaneously or through an abortion.
Human fetuses (from the Latin for “offspring”) are considered to be alive from the end of the eighth week following conception (when most of the main structures have formed) until they are born. After the fetal death, whether by natural causes or abortion, the tissue (including the entire organ) can be legally given for research purposes.
Even more controversial is the belief of many that, “the pregnant woman’s consent should be necessary for donation—that is, the father should not be able to authorise donation by himself, and the mother should always be asked before fetal tissue is utilized.” However, when the tissue is collected as a result of an abortion, there is no agreement on the issue of consent. After terminating a pregnancy by an abortion, some ethics experts argue that the woman relinquished the responsibility of guarding and proxying for the cadaveric remains of her unborn child. Others argue that because the dead fetus has no rights or interests to preserve, the mother woman has the moral and legal right to select how the tissue should be disposed of.
What laws cover the transfer of fetal tissue?
More divisive still is the idea that “the pregnant woman’s consent should be necessary for donation”; that is, that the father should not be able to authorize donation on his own and that the mother should always be asked before fetal tissue is used. However, there is disagreement about whether or not consent should be required when collecting tissue from a woman who has recently had her pregnancy terminated. Some moral philosophers believe that once a woman has an abortion, she should not be held legally or morally responsible for the care of her dead child. Others maintain that the mother has the moral and legal right to decide how the tissue should be disposed of because the deceased fetus has no rights or interests to protect.
Is it illegal to sell fetal tissue?
The outright trade in fetal tissue is illegal. However, businesses that participate in the process of acquiring, transporting, and ultimately disposing of tissue are eligible for compensation. There are two laws that address this issue separately. Organ sales to humans, including fetal organs, are prohibited by sections 274e and 274f of Title 42 of the United States Code. Because fetal tissue is more likely to be used for study than for transplantation into a living human, it is unlikely that this rule applies. Any person with knowledge of the law is prohibited from acquiring, receiving, or transferring human fetal tissue “for valuable payment if the transfer influences interstate commerce” under 42 US Code 289g.
Valued consideration” does not include “appropriate compensation related with the transportation, implantation,” “processing” or storage of human fetal tissue, as defined by these statutes. 42 USC 289g makes it illegal to “solicit or accept tissue from fetuses gestated for research purposes.” Abortions that harvest organs or other tissue from a fetus for the express purpose of transplantation are prohibited. However, this appears to only include human tissue that was “deliberately begun” during a pregnancy. Under federal law, tissue donated following an abortion can be used for scientific purposes.
Conclusion
Valued consideration” does not include “appropriate compensation related with the transportation, implantation,” “processing” or storage of human fetal tissue, as defined by these statutes. 42 USC 289g makes it illegal to “solicit or accept tissue from fetuses gestated for research purposes.” Abortions that harvest organs or other tissue from a fetus for the express purpose of transplantation are prohibited. However, this appears to only include human tissue that was “deliberately begun” during a pregnancy. Under federal law, tissue donated following an abortion can be used for scientific purposes.
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Danh mục: Health
