Ethically sourced "spare" human bodies could revolutionize medicine

[madville]

Ethically sourced “spare” human bodies could revolutionize medicine

Human “bodyoids” could reduce animal testing, improve drug development, and alleviate organ shortages.

There might be a way to get out of this moral and scientific deadlock. Recent advances in biotechnology now provide a pathway to producing living human bodies without the neural components that allow us to think, be aware, or feel pain. Many will find this possibility disturbing, but if researchers and policymakers can find a way to pull these technologies together, we may one day be able to create “spare” bodies, both human and nonhuman.

These could revolutionize medical research and drug development, greatly reducing the need for animal testing, rescuing many people from organ transplant lists, and allowing us to produce more effective drugs and treatments. All without crossing most people’s ethical lines.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1113611/ethically-sourced-spare-human-bodies-could-revolutionize-medicine/

I’m sure Elon would love to put his Neuro-Link in some of these spare bodies for testing. Written by folks from Stanford so it’s a legit source.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. And to do it by cancelling scientific research and without the ability to pay for it

will be just wonderful. Make no mistake. These are spare parts for the wealthiest families of the world only.

[Laffy Kat]

2. The novel, "Never Let Me Go" came to mind immediately.

Written by Kazuo Ishiguro. There was also a movie based on the novel. The heart-breaking story has stayed with me.

[Dr. Shepper]

14. Me too

I think about the movie often. Never read the book.

[meadowlander]

3. It would revolutionize gender affirming care as well (but shush - don't tell anyone).

[dweller]

4. The plan for SSA

could be just the source of the ‘spare’ bodies …

🫤



✌🏻

[cbabe]

5. China: forced body harvesting

NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com › news › world › china-forcefully-harvests-organs-detainees-tribunal-concludes-n1018646

China forcefully harvests organs from detainees, tribunal concludes

Some of the more than 1.5 million detainees in Chinese prison camps are being killed for their ... an independent body tasked with investigating organ

[Sogo]

6. This sounds absolutely freaky!

I don't see how it would pass moral and ethical considerations.....

[meadowlander]

10. It's just 3D printed meat.

What's the difference between printing an organ to transplant or test drugs on and printing a steak to eat (which is also not that far off)? It's not a conscious being.

Is it more moral or ethical to let a child die because a suitable donor for a heart transplant couldn't be found? Or more moral or ethical to test on animals who are conscious and can feel pain?

[Sogo]

11. What is is printed from, the "ink," if you will....?

...

[meadowlander]

12. Other cells in your body

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/10/health/3d-printed-organs-bioprinting-life-itself-wellness-scn/index.html

" To begin the process of bioprinting an organ, doctors typically start with a patient’s own cells. They take a small needle biopsy of an organ or do a minimally invasive surgical procedure that removes a small piece of tissue..

This growth happens inside a sterile incubator or bioreactor, a pressurized stainless steel vessel that helps the cells stay fed with nutrients — called “media” — the doctors feed them every 24 hours...

“Then we mix it with this gel, which is like a glue,” Atala said. “Every organ in your body has the cells and the glue that holds it together. Basically, that’s also called ‘extracellular matrix.’”

This glue is Atala’s nickname for bioink, a printable mixture of living cells, water-rich molecules called hydrogels, and the media and growth factors that help the cells continue to proliferate and differentiate, Lewis said. The hydrogels mimic the human body’s extracellular matrix, which contains substances including proteins, collagen and hyaluronic acid.

Collagen and gelatin are two of the most common biomaterials used for bioprinting tissues or organs."

[BlueSpot]

13. Agree. This raises a whole bucket load of ethical questions.

It might get there but it seems like it is going to take a lot of discussion about things like "what makes a living being?" or "what makes a human?" or "what makes a slave?" and even "if it's wrong to do testing with animals, why is it that this is OK?" I could think of more.

This will pull in religion, ethics, and all sorts of people with all sorts of agendas. As a society, we're still hung up on issues like euthanasia, stem cell research and probably others that aren't jumping to mind. I can't imagine making this orders-of-magnitude larger leap without a lot (as in decades) of fighting beforehand.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Science fiction has been dealing with this problem for some time now.

Sometimes the solution is to clone a person, and do a lobotomy very early on, so they aren't alive in the same was as the original.

Sometimes the concept of a soul is invoked, and cloned bodies simply don't have a soul, so again, okay to harvest.

I've taken my name off "organ donor" on my DL, after reading a fascinating book that discusses the fact that they don't always insure a person is fully anesthetized when harvesting. Although in all honesty, I might be too old for any of my organs to be useful.

[Scrivener7]

8. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

Give it 5 years and it'll be the new sex industry. Give it 5 more and it'll be a new super weapon.

I'm glad I'm not young.

[jmowreader]

9. Why am I thinking about an old Schwarzenegger flick?