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Nascere da una cellula del corpo. Il dibattito sulla rilevanza morale delle cellule somatiche alla luce dei nuovi scenari riproduttivi
Balistreri, Maurizio
2018
Abstract
With the scientific and technological development and the refinement of new reproductive
technologies it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish a somatic cell from an embryo.
We already have new reproductive technologies, such as nuclear cloning, which
demonstrate the ability of somatic cells to produce new individuals (we have not only
animals but also human embryos produced by cloning). In the coming decades we may
have other reproductive technologies that can further confirm the totipotentiality of our
somatic cells. Some of these could be used by those who want to have a child, others seem
less interesting from this point of view, but could still be used to produce human embryos
to be used for research and experimentation purposes. This new scenario has important
consequences at a moral level and, in particular, for the bioethical debate on issues
concerning the relevance of the embryo. Since the fertilized egg cells (zygotes) and somatic
cells have the same potential (in the presence of the right conditions, that is, they can
become new human beings), one cannot attribute moral relevance to embryos and deny
moral relevance to somatic cells.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Maurizio Balistreri, "Nascere da una cellula del corpo. Il dibattito sulla rilevanza morale delle cellule somatiche alla luce dei nuovi scenari riproduttivi", in "Etica & Politica / Ethics & Politics (2018) XX/2", Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2018, pp. 309-331
Languages
it
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internazionale
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