The following is an edited excerpt.
After decades of global research, controversies, and failed approval petitions, the UK’s Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency finally gave researchers at the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine the go-ahead late last month to start developing synthetic blood with adult stem cells.
According to Ruha Benjamin, a sociologist at Boston University, the arrival of synthetic blood is likely to come with some serious socioeconomic and ethical issues, including ones that have complicated many medical advances before it.
Read the full story here: Real-Life True Blood: Synthetic Blood Is Coming — And So Are a Host of Potential Complications
Additional Resources:
- “Scots scientists to trial synthetic human blood,” Scotsman
Learn more about the license that will allow Scottish scientists to test synthetic blood on humans. - “You Won’t Believe It’s Not Blood: 5 Synthetic Substitutes for the Real Thing,” Popular Mechanics
Review several types of synthetic blood products in this slide show from Popular Mechanics. - “US clinical-research system in need of review,” Nature
This column in the journal Nature discusses ethical issues historically associated with clinical trials in the US. - WHO | World Blood Donor Day
World Blood Donor Day, celebrated on 14 June every year, serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products. Learn more about the day at the World Heath Organization website.
