The Ethical Controversy of Polyheme, Artificial Blood

Polyheme, a synthetic substitute for human blood has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for general use. We often here impassioned please on the radio or television for local blood drives. It is no secret that blood is a rare commodity for hospitals and emergency services. Currently, doctors and emergency personnel are forced to mix the red stuff with saline solution in emergency situations. Since saline solutions cannot actually carry oxygen, it acts as a filler.

Synthetic blood would solve that problem and of course, ease the shortages. It can also be kept for longer periods of time than the natural version of the product, but it has sparked some controversy and the two main products, Polyheme and Hemopure have not yet been approved by the FDA. One town meeting held in a Texas community asked residents if they were willing to be injected with artificial blood should they find themselves in an emergency situation. All but one consented. Of the two products, Polyheme is slightly thinner which makes it use more beneficial to patients who are hemmorrhaging.

According to Northfield Labarotories web site, Polyheme is made by extracting hemoglobin from red blood cells, purifying it and putting it through a polymerization process. They claim that the process they uses eliminates many of the problems with previous artificial blood products.

The objection stems over the ethics of injecting a patient who cannot give consent to the procedure with the artificial blood. Some religious groups, such as the Christian scientists object to medical grounds on principle, while the Jehovah's Witness objection to blood transfusions is based on the Biblical prohibition against consuming blood. Paramedics and other medical professionals point out that religious preferences may not be the first thing on their mind when they need to save a person's life. Ethics groups, pointing out that there is no data on whether or not artificial blood is safe, argue that people should not be used as guinea pigs to test the product's viability.

Polyheme and similar products may not be ready for public use until the ethical issues surrounding them are resolved, but it has been used successfully in several trials, including one at Duke University. If it does get approved for general use, it can be used by people with all blood typess, which can be achieved only through using the O negative blood type now. The blood type is found in less than 7% of the population.

Sources:

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2004/04/62955?currentPage=1

http://www.northfieldlabs.com/process.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PolyHeme