Medical applications of fetal tissue transplantation. Council on Scientific Affairs and Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs
Fetal tissue transplantation has been attempted for a limited number of
clinical disorders, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes,
immunodeficiency disorders, and several metabolic disorders. Fetal tissue
has intrinsic properties--ability to differentiate into multiple cell
types, growth and proliferative ability, growth factor production, and
reduced antigenicity--that make it attractive for transplantation research.
At this time the results from fetal tissue grafts for Parkinson's disease
and diabetes have not demonstrated significant long-term clinical benefit
to patients with these disorders. Further research will be necessary to
determine the potential value of fetal tissue transplantation. For these
clinical investigations to proceed, specific ethical guidelines are needed
to ensure that fetal tissue derived from elective abortions is used in a
morally acceptable manner. These guidelines should separate, to the
greatest extent possible, the decision by a woman to have an abortion from
her consent to donate the postmortem tissue for transplantation purposes.
Such ethical guidelines are offered in this report.
