Ethical Issues in Contemporary Neuroscience

Ethical Issues in Contemporary Neuroscience

Advances in neuroscience and therapeutic applications of stem cell research have provided a wide range of treatments for human ailments and the consequences of traumatic disability that have never before been able to be treated effectively (Tong. 2007). The latest indications suggest very strongly that we are just around the corner from a new era of modern medicine in which artificial limbs will be hard wired in the brain, traumatic spinal paralysis will be treatable through the use of human stem cells, and wireless transmitters will be neurologically implanted to allow patients to communicate and control a computer just by thinking (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2007; Levine, 2008). Furthermore, the applications of cloning technologies have already demonstrated the capacity to grow entire functioning organs using genetic material from the recipient in conjunction with stem cell tissues, which will likely eliminate the need for donor organs for transplant, saving the lives of thousands of patients annually who die waiting for an organ match. In that regard, the auto-transplantation of such organs will also eliminate the need for lifelong anti-rejection drugs that shorten the lives of organ recipients even in the best-case scenarios today (Levine, 2008; Tong, 2007).