CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

MARTIN ŠOLC

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ

Introduction In these days, more than ten years have passed from the peak of the so called “great stem cell debate” around the year 2005. Even though many expectations arising from this debate have not been fulfilled, stem cell research still represents one of the most hopeful areas of medical research of these days. It also did not cease to be one of the most controversial issues in current biomedicine. The problem of stem cell research and its applications have undoubtedly become and remained a part of the international discourse in medical law and ethics. 1 While there are more types of stem cells, those derived from human embryos in embryo-destructive procedures are used most frequently, provoking hard ethical and legal questions. The whole stem cell research problem is very complex and many of the involved legal concepts, such as human dignity or right to life, are inseparable from deep philosophical debates. In this paper, we will inevitably simplify these questions in order to present the principles of the international law regulation of stem cell research and discuss its differences in selected human rights protection systems. First, we will very briefly explain the nature and types of stem cells and their medical use. Then, we will introduce some of the most important questions of the ethical debate surrounding embryo-destructive research. We will further analyse the reflections of this debate in the most important United Nations and Council of Europe documents relevant to the stem cell research, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Stem cells and their medical use There are more than 200 types of cells in the human body. Every single cell, regardless its type, has the same genetic information contained in its nucleus. However, the particular cell type fulfils specific functions in the organism as only some genes are expressed in the particular cell, while every gene expression should take place at the suitable time. Once the cell is specialized, it is usually incapable of cell division 2 . Before reaching its final developmental stage, however, the cell must have undergone the process of specialization. Before this process started, the cell had been an adult stem cell (ASC) of a particular tissue with the potential to become one of several types of specialized cells. For example, from the epidermal stem cells may arise any layer of epidermis and from the hematopoietic stem cells may arise erythrocytes, macrophages, lymphoid cells or other types of blood cells. The potential to become one of limited types of cells is called multipotency . It is evident that not only adult tissues need cells capable of renewal. The embryo in the first days of its existence, subjected to extremely rapid change, consists of a special kinds of stem cells which can differentiate into any of the 200 types of human cells. An embryonic stem cell (ESC) can therefore specialize into a brain cell as well as a skin cell, a hepatocyte or a bone cell. This potential is called pluripotency . 1 For a general introduction to the area of medical law with special emphasis on legal systems of England and Wales, Germany, and the Czech Republic, see for example LAING, Judith, McHALE, Jean (eds.) Principles of Medical Law. 4 th edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2017. LAUFS, Adolf, KERN, Bernd-Rüdiger (eds.) Handbuch des Arztrechts . 4 th edition, C. H. Beck, München 2010. ŠUSTEK, Petr, HOLČAPEK, Tomáš (eds.) Zdravotnické právo. Wolters Kluwer, Praha 2016. 2 SNUSTAD, D. Peter, SIMMONS, Michael J. Principles of Genetics. 6 th edition, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2012, p. 573. 1.

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