Ethical issues in brain-cell transplantation

The ethical ramifications of intracranial transplantation are many. While the majority of ethical concerns have focused on the relationship of transplantation of fetal brain tissue to elective abortion, there are other significant issues relating to graft recipients (patients and their families) and to the allocation of public resources for clinical transplantation research. In this article, some of these latter problems will be considered first, followed by a discussion of the constraints derived from the abortion question that are placed on transplantation.