Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
More vital to the ongoing efforts of securing materials for research,
however, are the attitudes of potential donors of research materials.
One study, for example, has identified a number of factors that
influenced views about donating to research (McMahon et al.,
2003). A disinclination to donate embryos was underpinned by
perceptions of the embryo as a potential child, concern about the
kinds of research that might be conducted and a preference for
alternative options for leftover embryos (McMahon et al., 2003). In
the same study, support for donation included views that embryos
should not be wasted and a desire to help other infertile couples by
contributing to research (McMahon et al., 2003).
5.1.1 USpoliticsandhESCresearch
Nowhere has the political and ethical debate around hESC research
been more intense than in the US. President George Bush's 2001
decision to restrict funding to cell lines that had already been created
was widely seen to be a compromise between capitulating to the
conservative right, which has had a long tradition of opposing
abortion, abortion funding and the use of public funds on anything
closely related and allowing controversial research to continue
(Coile, 2001). At the time, the NIH estimated that there were 60-70
stem cell lines in existence when the announcement was made, but
this was later proven to be grossly exaggerated and the actual number
was closer to 15 (Walters, 2004). Bush's decision had a profound
effect on the regulation of hESC research in the US, with individual
states like California introducing their own legislation in an attempt
to minimize the damage to the innovation system, and thus potential
for commercialization, that Bush's restrictions on funding threatened.
More significantly, one commentator argued that Bush's use of a
national television address to make his announcement was a
historically unprecedented event '… that made bioethics a national
priority for the first time …' (Wertz, 2002b: 675).
The core issue of the US debate over hESC has to do with the
cultural politics of the value placed on the embryo in US culture.
Consequently, the hESC debate is irrevocably linked to the abortion
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