Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
demand for iPSC-based treatments. Given these developments for
adult and embryonic stem cell research, it seems inevitable that
iPSCs will eventually become available in these ways too.
In many respects, these developments are no different than the
existing medical service provision, where a patient/client seeks out
local services from GPs and other allied health professionals.
However, the core difference that might be imagined with
iPSC-based treatment is the level of skill of technical services being
provided in the clinic. In theory, the patient could provide a small
skin sample in the clinic, the sample is then expanded to create the
tissue required and then the tissue is implanted into the patient.
Much further down the track, it may transpire that the two most
complicated parts of the process - growing the material required and
reintroducing it into the patient - will be outsourced to laboratories
and larger clinics in this scenario.
This question of affordability will be a significant one when the
capacity to grow biological materials on demand becomes a
technological possibility. Who will be able to access services and
how services will be accessed will have a major impact, not only on
the future success of the industry, but also on the long-term social
consequences of inequalities in healthcare. If the cost of, say, a whole
organ produced via iPSC technology is not supported by government
healthcare systems or private health insurers, yet is still expensive to
obtain relative to average weekly earnings, then clearly only the
wealthy will be able to afford this service.
However, aside from the question of affordability, there may be
other social implications of a scenario where organs might be made
to order that are as yet unimaginable. As discussed previously, one
of the potential ethical concerns raised by Yamanaka is that human
germ cells might be made out of iPSCs, allowing possibilities of
parenting not seen before. Furthermore, should body parts become
easily replaceable through an affordable and accessible healthcare
system then current models of public health will be rendered
redundant (Harvey, 2010). If the body and its constituent parts are
no longer a precious resource that is irreplaceable, then the incentive
to protect it from harm will surely decline as more options for the
replaceability of body parts rises.
