Lost a finger? Just grow it back…
That’s what’s being suggested by this new procedure being tried out by the military using a special powder developed to trick the bodies stem cells to start building tissue that is missing. The article also reports the researchers stating that if this works it could eventually be used to replace more complex organs that people might need replaced:
One day, he hopes, people with heart trouble will be told, “That’s OK. We will just grow you another one.
While I think the prospects of this are pretty cool. I couldn’t help thinking as I read the article: Let’s say this does work out great and there are no harmful side effects - Let’s say that this solves the problem in today’s society with not enough donor organs for people waiting for transplants -Let’s say this makes it possible for people who have lost organs/limbs due to disease or disaster get them back - truly that would be absolutely amazing and would be beneficial for so many people BUT think about some other consequences of this (not necessarily bad consequences but just things I got thinking about…)
- would people take more risks knowing that if anything happened to their body it could be replaced?
