1 Bioethics Beyond Altruism 17around the procurement of stem cell material; questions around intel-
lectual property rights; and the potentialities of stem cells to treat and
regenerate ‘life itself ’. It also adds controversy to the long-standing
bioethical question surrounding the beginnings and ends of life—where
does life begin and at what point does it end? That is, if we can pro-
duce and regenerate organs from stem or somatic cells to extend our
lives, what are the implications for how we define life and death and the
increasingly blurry line between the two?
In the first chapter of this section, Dead human bodies and embryos,
anatomist D. Gareth Jones considers this question by configuring simi-
larities between unborn entities such as the embyro and foetal matter
alongside plastinated bodies, as proto-cadavers. Jones argues that it
may be profitable to view ethical issues surrounding the embryo, repro-
ductive technologies, and genetic privacy in conjunction with debates
on the adult body, since, from his perspective, they all fall within the
ambit of anatomy as the study of the human form and human tissue.
An example Jones provides is the observation that adult stem cells are
on the verge of being de-differentiated to form cells‚ such as neural cells
and even more interestingly as gametes, opening the way to the forma-
tion of embryos from adult somatic cells. Developments of this char-
acter demonstrate that the gulf between adult and embryonic cells and
tissues is far from impregnable and that the ethical issues met in the
two domains have far more in common than generally suspected. Jones’s
aim in this chapter is to explore what can be learnt from debates within
anatomy at the life/death border, such as respect, dignity and consent,
and emerging issues at the border between the embryo, foetus and post-
natal existence.
In the next chapter of the section, Casimir MacGregor, Tristan
McCaughey, Megan Munsie, Alice Pébay and Alex Hewitt investigate
the creation, and social, ethical and legal issues associated with induced
pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), as an alternative to the use of human
embryonic stem cells. Drawing on results from an in-depth study into
research participant motivations for donating tissue for the generation
of patient-specific iPSCs, the authors examine participant attitudes and
understanding of ethical issues surrounding iPSC research. The ques-
tion they ask in relation to the informed consent process concerns the