By Henry Kyambalesa
I wish to comment on the planned establishment of an umbilical cord blood stem cell bank in Zambia by Cryobank International of India.
Essentially, a “stem cell” is a ductile type of cell that can either naturally develop into most of the 220 types of cells of the human body—such as blood cells, heart cells, brain cells, and kidney cells—or be developed into most of such cells through manipulation.[1] The fungibility or non-specialized nature of stem cells provides considerable therapeutic potential in that the cells can be “doctored” and used to replace damaged, infected or dead cells in a person’s body and restore his or her health.
In the ensuing paragraphs, let us consider the ethical debate associated with stem cell research, a useful caveat for Zambian law makers and researchers who are involved in contentious research projects, and the need for an effective mechanism for assessing the benefits and costs of such research projects.
The Ethical Debate:
While advances in human stem cell research have generated a great deal of excitement among researchers and optimistic predictions about revolutionary advances in biomedicine, they have also sparked a highly contentious ethical debate.[2] Among potential benefits of the research are new treatments and possible cures for debilitating diseases and injuries—including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, burns, spinal cord injuries, and some types of cancer.[3]
Ethical challenges associated with the research generally pertain to the source of the most promising categories of stem cells used—that is, “embryonic stem cells” derived from embryos that are between 5 and 7 days old, and “embryonic gem cells” derived from immature aborted foetuses. Basically, the extraction of stem cells from an embryo kills the embryo involved.
According to McDonald,[4] the ethical debate concerning the use of such stem cells boils down to three disparate arguments as follows:
(a) The embryos are genetically human and are potential human beings deserving of society’s full respect and protection;
(b) The embryos are neither conscious nor self-aware, and are mere clusters of human cells with no independent ethical status; and
(c) The embryos are a part of the human life-cycle, part of the human story, and should, as such, be treated with respect in the same manner as a human corpse is treated.
Human stem cells can also be derived from the tissue of an adult, in which case the subject is generally left unharmed. Unfortunately, stem cells from an adult tissue are difficult to extract; moreover, they are limited in quantity, and appear to be less useful in facilitating revolutionary advances in biomedicine.[5]
In recent years, the multi-potent-stem-cell-rich blood found in the umbilical cords of infants has proven useful in treating the same types of health problems as those treated using bone marrow stem cells and peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs).[6] Since the umbilical cords are generally and traditionally discarded as a by-product of the birth process, umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants raise less ethical questions.
Besides, they are less prone to rejection by recipients than either bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells perhaps because the cells have not yet developed the features that can be recognized and attacked by the recipient’s immune system. And since umbilical cord blood lacks well-developed immune cells, there is less chance that the transplanted cells will attack the recipient’s body. Both the versatility and availability of umbilical cord blood stem cells, therefore, makes them a potent resource for transplant therapies.[7]
But where will the Indian company be obtaining the umbilical cord blood stem cells, and what if the sources of umbilical cord blood stem cells will eventually turn out to be aborted and/or miscarried human foetuses? And how are we going to ensure that some morally corrupt or deficient women in the country or across national borders will not use this as a “cash cow” by getting pregnant and later selling their foetuses to the envisaged stem cell bank for the extraction of umbilical cord blood stem cells?
I do not believe a blood disorder known as “Thallasemic condition” is common in Zambia to warrant the setting up of a “cord blood cell bank” in the country. I would, therefore, advise the government not to allow the setting up of such a facility in our beloved country, especially if there are no definite answers to the questions I have raised above.
While I see the potential for umbilical cord blood stem cells to provide a lasting cure to life-threatening genetic blood disorders, we should be wary of research endeavors which many Zambians would find morally repugnant—research which has the potential to promote abortions for the purpose of selling foetuses. We must, of course, advance the promise and cause of science and research, but we must do so in a way that honors and respects life.
We need to protect the dignity and integrity of human life! And we must guard against creating a market for human parts like umbilical cords in our country!
A Useful Caveat:
McDonald[8] has provided a useful caveat for biotechnology companies and researchers facing vexing challenges and dilemmas arising from contentious research endeavors like stem cell research; it may be paraphrased as follows: The opinions of people in the host nation or community should be seriously discerned, publicly discussed, and ultimately used as important inputs in the generation of a “definition of corporate ‘best practice’ or clinical ‘standard of care’.”
An Assessment Mechanism:
It is essential for transnational companies which are engaged in contentious scientific and/or technological research projects to embrace measures which their host countries may institute to evaluate the technical and economic viability of such projects, and “the societal dimension of [the] impacts”[9] of the projects. In other words, they need to participate actively in “technology assessments” which their host governments may introduce. Such assessments are important because they can be used by national governments in many beneficial ways. For example, they can be used as:
(a) Sources of vital information needed in isolating envisaged scientific and technological research projects that need to be promoted, and those which need to be discouraged or prohibited altogether;
(b) Means of assessing and minimizing the potential negative impacts that may be associated with scientific and technological research projects; and
(c) Vehicles for resolving the contentious moral and ethical issues and dilemmas that may be evoked by scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs.
To be useful, technology assessments need to generate and provide sufficient and reliable information about a given scientific and/or technological project on such matters as the following:[10] (a) the technical and economic feasibility of the project; (b) its potential economic, social, and environmental effects; and (c) the potential risks and safety concerns associated with it.
Moreover, the assessments need to be administered by an agency that is akin to what Alvin Toffler has referred to as a “technological ombudsman,”[11] which can be created and charged with the responsibility for receiving, investigating and, among a host of other things, acting on complaints pertaining to the irresponsible application of new scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs.
If it is prudently managed, such an agency can enable a country to create a positive and viable interface between society and scientific and technological research endeavors.
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[1] A definition adapted from Religious Tolerance, “Stem Cell Research: All Sides to the Dispute,” www.religioustolerance.org/; and National Institute of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Stem Cells: A Primer,” www.nih.gov, May 2000.
[2] MacDonald, C., “Stem Cells: A Pluripotent Challenge,” http://www.stemcells.ca.
[3] Religious Tolerance, and National Institute of Health, op. cit.
[4] McDonald, C., op. cit.
[5] Religious Tolerance, op. cit.
[6] The University of Utah: Genetic Science Learning Center, “Stem Cell Therapies Today,” www.learn.genetics.utah.edu/, January 2011.
[7] The University of Utah, ibid.
[8] McDonald, C., op. cit.
[9] See Hetman, F., “From Technology Assessment to an Integrated Perspective on Technology,” in Srinivasan, M., editor, Technology Assessment and Development (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1982), p. 37.
[10] See Kyambalesa, H., Business Innovation and Competitiveness in the Developing World (Brookfield, USA: Ashgate Publishing Company, 1993), p. 72.
[11] See Toffler, A., Future Shock (New York: Random House, Inc., 1970), p. 442.
Fantastic Analysis. My point is that, the truth is that Zambia has no yet reached a level where we can manage and supervise biotechnology effectively, especially when such technology is foreign owned. We simply do not have that capacity. If the Indian company had it easy it would have chosen the UK or USA and not come all the way to Zambia. The reason is simple: the scientific supervision regime in Zambia is non-existent. It won’t be long before we a Thalidomide Affair of ourselves, but by then we will have been saddled with millions of disabled babies. The truth is that the Indian company is coming to do developmental research in Zambia, it NOT COMING TO MANUFACTURE stem-cell-based therapies or treatments: they could easily manufacture those more cheaply in Indian. Watch it!!
LT has no impact even if you fi mmd you used it to spread your propaganda…thats why you keep on hacking the post online, you have seen it for yourselves
Zambia – Dumping ground for Global Rubbish
I totally agree with number 1
This should not be allowed to be done in Zambia. they should take it to India we need more meaningful things and what we need is basic infrastructure and technologies and not thecontravential stem cells research
Am at a loss please someone educate me , I thought the issue is an ambilical cord which is available when a child is born and is then cut and preserved for treatment, we hear that in some cultures this is a source of treatment for people related to the child and even the child himself/herself in later years???
Please take your studies away from Zambia. The next thing we shall hear is a test tube baby in UTH.It is amazing to see the damage science has caused to this earth, many diseases are as a result of manufactured foods, polluted environment etc.Now the same scientist are trying to find cure by manipulating human cells.
The result will be more severe diseases and the story goes. One thing they forget is we are all born to die.Death is for everyone,white or black,Indian or choncholi. We shall all die at one time.What is important is for us to know GOD and repent of our sins.
Ok get educated now: No other race more genetically diverse than central southern africans i.e zambia included. This means if you are a muzungu or mwenye and need a bone marrow transplant because of leukemia you are well off looking for a match with the africans and their genetic diversity. Gene therapy is about to revolutionize medicine as we know it. Most degenerative diseases in future will be treated by gene therapy. So thats the angle these mwenyes are comming in at, your zed genes are valuable. That doesnt mean that the stored cells will neccessarily be used to treat zambians. Its a benign form of organ theft from africa. I say go for it and see what happens.
Why not publishing my comments LT?
We have more pressing issues in Zambia tha need to be addressed such as Poverty Level and un employment in the country and the education system to be addressed. I do aggree with # 1 that Zambia is not yet mature for that, if selfish leaders who just want to use the poor illiterate people about their right to decide what is best for their child, bulozhi busakutenda pano n the name of stem cell. I say NO, to that rubish, do a research on how too reduce poverty and malnutriton in the Country than to explore people’ children . I am a mother and I say NO to it!
The govt should for starters ban stem cell research in Zambia, because as the author says the supervision is non existent and we risk ending up with human clones. Both therapeutic and reproductive cloning have serious ethical and social dilemmas and a specific law should be put in place to make sure it is avoided.
For those who support stem cell research imagine some mmd chaps decide to clone 50 William Bandas. There will be a total breakdown of law and order!
Nyele mukumwa should provide foetuses as he is sexually very active. no problem wth that
MMD bootlicker your input on this topic or you just know politics???
:d
The above is not a comment; rather, it is a poor attempt at explaining stem cell research.
M’pinga, by your reasoning perhaps we should ban several other unsupervised procedures. Ba jackal, what capacity is necessary to understand, let alone handle stem cell research. I could understand one being in religious limbo, but capacity? Why encourage inferiority. We speak of competing in a global market while doing everything go ensure we remain uncompetitive. What we need to do is embark on a path of empowering ourselves with knowledge and understanding so that one day we may be able to make logical arguments that complete to our success as a nation.
FYI, this author is quoting articles from as far back as 1982, basically using obsolete material for a discussion on stem cell research…
Wow Henry this is awesome.I`m one of the supporters of stem cell research more expecially coz of the promises it has in helping humanity get rid of some present uncurable diseases.I should commend you for having come up with this well balanced article.It is all human to be sceptical hence yo fears are warranted.I guess the project if started will eventually prove to be more of a benefit than a rip off to the Zambian population.Cheers to science and research.
#14 I agree with you. Also, religion is opium of masses. All religions of the world have been stuck with the time and space they originated in. Islam is a way of life of 7th century Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Christianity goes back by 800 years and one can imagine what was practiced at that time is still being followed blindly by many. Religions have not evolved but science, technology and human wisdom and knowledge has moved thousand times better than what was written as accumulated wisdom of tribes of that time in the middle east in the so-called religious books.
Religion is good to bring in focus and fellowship but it has to continuously evolve and has to be in line with time and space. All medical advancements have ethical issues- more relevant than foetuses and umbilical stem…
Life is there in rats, rabbits, monkeys- who are made guinea pigs for every research and development of medicines, surgeries the benefits of that accrue to us, the human beings. If we really value “life” we shall not use any medicine, not agree for any surgery, not eat any non-veg. They are all the result of slaughtering of innocent animals for our selfish (!!!!) motives.
We need progressive and balanced christians, muslims, budhists, jews and not bible/quran thumpers.
We also have to move faster than the pace at which western and eastern world is moving. We have a lot of catching to do. We are still sending our citizens to South Africa and India for simple medical treatments. Why? Because we have prejudices and have not allowed our local capacities to develop and have faith in them.
Nonsense, Zambian don’t learn. Not long ago people in mazabuka go infected by HIV due to these rat experiments. Let them keep their trials in the west.God created man for a good purpose and not for such foolish trials. Shame on those useless human being using people for trails.
Great idea to set up stem cell research in Zambia! This will surely help those people with Alzheimers, Parkinsons dieases etc As for the source nothing should be contentious about this issues
1 Embryos can be made in a test tube , just find egg and sperm donor period.
2. Umbilical stem cell are easy to find as the umbilical cord is a “waste” product of parturition
i dont how any controversy in all this unless one is so closed minded and is text book taught like the author of the article,besides the research centre will provide jobs for Zambians too
Nothing bad at all with this.With the high levels of nyele pa Zed sources of the umblical cords wont be an isssue.Cheers baf..ala it is friday let us celebrate.
THIS hENRY HAS OVEREACHED HIMSELF. HE SHOULD STICK TO HIS INTERNET BASED PARTY. HE HAS NO CLUE ABOUT WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT
Here are some facts:
1. Last year alone , Zambia sent a number of people to India to receive coneal transplant in order to regain sight. These eye parts are donated by indians/south african before they die or by the relatives of freshly dead people. Due to achaic laws, ignorance & superstition Zambians have not done so.
2. A labour ward that churns out more that 10 babies /day discards over 300 l of cord blood per day. UTH perhaps delivers more
3. the potencial for this blood icnlude that very child as human tissue can now be stored for several decades.
I could write more. What Kyambalesa could have done is to also get a view from doctors on the ground. I don’t see this work. This is poor journalism. Other countries have developed because the know it all syndrome is curbed by fair
Thanks you for your comment .
add : I hope people sharing together .
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khuyen mai
khuyen mai giam gia
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