Ethics of Bioprinting Organs: Can you put a price on life?
Written by Ria Bhatia Over the past three decades, the field of 3D bioprinting has emerged, creating endless possibilities for scientific progress. However, there are significant ethical dilemmas that come with this contemporary technology. One of the significant dichotomies in the bioprinting community is caused by those who support the idea of printing organs and those who do not. Throughout the history of organ transplantation, the process has been and continues to be vitiated by the lack of available organs and the long waiting lists for patients to receive a transplant. Currently, about 20 people die every day while on the waiting list [1] . Although it may seem as though bioprinting is the solution to the organ shortage epidemic, there are ethical concerns to this supposed panacea. When the first bioprinted organ is successfully manufactured, the question will arise: will this new technology only benefit the rich? This may very well be a reality of this nascent industry: b...