Invasive Experiment Raises Ethics Issue

In an experiment that has raised ethical questions, half of the participants in a study of a possible new way to treat Parkinson’s disease will have holes drilled in their skulls but will not get the treatment. The study is aimed at testing the effectiveness of transplanting fetal pig brain cells into the brains of late-stage Parkinson’s patients. Surgeons will drill a nickel-size hole in the heads of 18 patients and implant 12 million pig cells into the brain of each person. Eighteen other patients will get surgery but not cells.