Islamic Bioethical Reflections on Organ Bioprinting: Promises and Challenges.

Abstract

The shortage of organ donors poses a major challenge, often leading to patient deaths due to the lack of transplants. Additionally, transplant recipients face lifelong immunosuppression, which brings further health risks. The use of stem cells and biomaterials to develop bioinks for bioprinting technology holds the potential to create personalized tissues and organs that closely replicate the size and structure of their natural counterparts. This could provide a revolutionary solution to the organ shortage crisis. Even though the technology has not yet reached the stage of fully functional organs, it is becoming more accessible with the advent of affordable bioprinters and bioinks. As this technology develops, bioethicists are working with biomedical researchers to address the ethical issues that arise before its widespread therapeutic use. Nevertheless, the role of religion in these bioethical discourses remains relatively unexplored. This paper examines the bioethical issues surrounding bioprinting, with a particular focus on Islamic bioethics. In this study, we examined key bioethical issues within the Islamic framework, including the purpose of the technology, its safety, the use of stem cells and animal-derived biomaterials, and its commercialization. Additionally, we argued that certain organs, particularly reproductive organs, require deeper examination from an Islamic bioethical perspective, given the sensitive nature of reproduction and its wide-ranging social, cultural, and moral implications. The bioprinting of reproductive organs could have significant impact on parenthood, lineage, and familial structures and may give rise to intricate challenges concerning marital and inheritance rights, thereby necessitating careful consideration of the ethical and legal implications.