2006D-0383
  

  
 Characterization and Qualification of Cell Substrates and Other Biological Starting Materials Used in the Production of Viral Vaccines for the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases

  


  

  

  


  

  


  

  


  

  


  

  


  

  
FDA Comment Number : 
  

  
EC2749
  



  

  
Submitter : 
  

  
Mrs. Ellen Curtin
  

  
Date & Time: 
  

  
12/07/2006 11:12:48
  



  

  
Organization : 
  

  
Mrs. Ellen Curtin
  



  

  
Category : 
  

  
Individual Consumer
  



  

  
Issue Areas/Comments 
  


  

  


  

  
GENERAL
  


  

  



  

  
GENERAL
  


  

  



  

  
 No exploitation of fetal tissue is ethically defensible. The unborn human has not given informed consent to participate in medical research. Even if the parent were to give consent as medical proxy for a minor, problems remain. Who, other than the source, can hold a patent on human cell derivatives? Who can claim an ethical right to manipulate human tissue for private or corporate profit? (Is this not a modern-day incarnation of slavery?) Medical research is bound by ethics to refrain from doing that which harms human life. Ergo, a procedure that treats a human life as a disposable source of lab supplies is out of bounds. Let us trust in the ingenuity of medical research to do better than this. We can excite that ingenuity in part by closing this door, that they may open hundreds of others --- many of which are already showing great promise.



I write as a mother of four children and as a medical editor active in neurophysiological research for 30 years who deplores the erosion of conscience in the medical community in the past two decades. Greed and hubris are poor guides toward betterment. We can do better.