What are some uses of tissue cultures?

Question

and what are the moral/ethical issues involved?

Answer 1

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Tissue cultures can be used to study how human cells react to certain chemicals, to study cellular processes (metabolism, transport of proteins and other substances). Stem cell cultures can be used to differentiate into any human tissue type--eventually scientists hope to have the technology to build transplant organs using stem cells.

Stem cells have moral/ethical issues related to them because some groups believe that they have a soul.

Other cell cultures have other issues tied to them. The HeLa cell line was created from a woman's ovarian cancer tumor after she died. It was taken without her or her family's permission, and her relatives were very upset about that.

Answer 2

Tissue culture can be used to study cancer, viruses, membrane trafficking, or anything else that requires eukaryotic cells.

A few human cell lines are derived from fetal tissue, which some groups oppose.