GETTY
Dear Antonio (article: LINK),
You are trying to stir up peoples’ feelings towards anger unnecessarily as an attempt to have a news article that is well-read. Let me lay out why this article is nothing more than trash.
Why are you trying to make everything so divisive? I think that you raising these non-issues is borderline nonsensical. It seems you carefully chose your topic to be strategically divisive for the views… “Hmmm… what mixes Trump and Biden, as well as God versus Science, and COVID-19…”
clap… clap… clap… crickets…
You are twisting the issue. This is not an issue. The cells being used are HEK cells as you mention that come from fetal tissue. If someone were murdered for their organs so that it could be transplanted into someone, is this wrong? Absolutely! If someone dies in a car crash and their organs are transplanted to someone, is not this amazing!? If the person is murdered by someone but not for their organs, and their organs are transplanted to another, is not this extremely fortunate? Have you seen videos of families who hear their deceased loved one’s heart beating in a stranger? I cannot think of much more touching things in life. Should their organs be dumped in a garbage can even if the murdered person would have wanted to have their organs donated? The person should not be murdered, but if they are dead for whatever reason, why not use what we can (given the family agrees of course)?
Did Regeneron choose this cell line to be absurdly well-established and standardized in the scientific community? HEKs have been used for decades. If Regeneron wanted to conduct in vitro experiments using human kidney cells, there is absolutely no better choice than to use HEKs of that particular cell line. As Regeneron wants to get this treatment through the FDA, why would they not use the most well-established human kidney cells in the scientific community? If they were to delay by endeavoring to characterize new cells and try to standardize them and wasted a great deal of time, think of all of the lives they could have saved by just using these HEKs in the first place. Would it be unethical if they used anything other than these HEKs? I would argue, yes, it could also be seen as unethical not to use these HEK cells of interest…
Industry is compelled to use established cell lines because they are standardized. If a company, like Regeneron, took cells from fetal tissue today it would not fly well without standardizing and sufficiently characterizing the cells which would take a great deal of unnecessary resources. It would be ridiculous if Regeneron chose anything other than this HEK cell line. Also, if they were to re-establish the cell line again, do you think that they would convince a woman to abort the fetus for the sole purpose of getting the HEKs?
Also, most people don’t have an issue with using fetal tissue who believe in God in certain cases. Let me explain. Did the poor fetus simply not thrive? Was the fetus solely aborted to obtain the cells? Absolutely not. Was the mother raped? If she were raped, then she can have an abortion if she wants. Was the fetus putting the mother’s mortality at risk? If so, abortion is completely fine. If the fetus was aborted for any reason and we have the cells, why not use them for good?
Eduard Pernkopf’s book of anatomy exists? Should we have it? Should we have obtained it in the way we did? Absolutely not! But we do have it… why not use it for good? Surgeons use this anatomy textbook still today. I am sure there are surgeons out there who refuse to use the book and that is perfectly fine as well.
Try to write something more intellectually stimulating next time.
Best wishes,
Pharmacoengineering.com