Dr. Caplan shares his take on medical ethics

The bioethics expert says abortion politics stifles stem cell research. Stem cell medical treatments, he adds, are at least 10 years away.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. April 21, 2003.

Chicago -- From cloning to genetic testing, when reporters need to find someone who can talk about the bioethical issues of the day -- both eloquently and in plain English -- they call Arthur Caplan, PhD.

The 53-year-old Boston native is director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and chairs the university's department of medical ethics. He also has written or edited 25 books and writes a column for MSNBC.com.

Dr. Caplan, in Chicago for an AMA-sponsored presentation, spoke with AMNews about bioethical issues.

Question: What do doctors need to know about stem cell research?

Answer: Well, there are different ways to get stem cells. You can obtain stem cells from the parts of your body where they grow naturally, the so-called "adult stem cells." A second source is to make embryos and take the stem cells out of those. That's probably the most ethically controversial option. But, of the stem cells that the president said you could do research on, some of them are from that source. A third source is the thousands of unwanted frozen embryos. And the last one is cloning embryos from your own DNA.

Each has scientific and ethical issues. With adult stem cells, only some parts of the body grow them, and no one has any idea if you can transform them into normal tissues. Ethical issues are who owns the technologies? Are they patented? And will it work?