Journal of Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Fabricating humans: Ethical, legal and social issues of 3D organ bio printing

17^th World Congress on Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research & 10^th Global Conference on Physiotherapy, Physical Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine

October 28, 2022 | Webinar

Elena Salvaterra

IsoProg onlus, Italy

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Stem Cell Res Ther

Abstract:

Bio-fabrication and bio-printing represent an emerging new science promising astonishing progresses in the research and clinical applications. Bio-fabrication and bioprinting are “cousins” of tissue engineering and regenerative medicines because they use human biological materials to build constructs. However they raise specific ethical, legal and social issues which are associated with their special technologies. This abstract outlines the ethical, legal and social issues related to 3D tissue and organ bio-printing and the ways to explore them further. While 3D tissue and organ bio-printing seem to offer promising solutions to atavic ethical problems by offering viable alternative to animal testing, xenotransplantations, persistent organ demand, they raises special ethical, legal and social issues which deserve to be considered deeply. Firstly, 3D organ bio-printing may lead to unethical (?) social stratification. Since the technologies used to create 3D bio-printed biomaterials are highly expenses, 3D bio-printing may create a social discrimination based on the individual richness so that this technology ends to benefit only people who may pay for their own organ fabrication. Secondly, 3D bio-printing is still a futuristic approach which needs to be extensively validated. While 2D bio-printing (tissues such as skin) and hollow tube printing (such as blood vessels) are simpler, hollow and solid organ are far more complex and require long- term development and testing. Therefore, 3D bio-printing raises the need for scientists to handle the expectations of patients and their families. Furthermore, 3D organs bio-printing requires setting out specific regulations. To date, 3D organ bio-printing is not subject to dedicated legislations except for limited countries. Many ethical and regulatory issues are still open. There is currently the urgent need to define 3d bio-printing as a type of profitable machine or a medical treatment. Beyond the nature of bio-printed products, there is also the need to define property rights such as, for example, the patient ownership rights and the right/opportunity to grow their own.

Biography :

Elena Salvaterra is an independent lecturer mostly affiliated to the ICHSInternational Campus of Health Science, based in Milano, Italy. She earned a degree in Law and a PhD in Ethics of Science. Recently she completed a MA in Psychology of Disability. She worked as researcher for 20 years publishing articles for indexed and academic journals. She also published two books in the field of biobanking. She gave several lectures at international conferences mostly in the field of human biobanking ethics. She is currently working on projects related to the ethics of 3D organ/ biomaterial printing.