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Albert M. [The Brüstle v. Greenpeace case and the end of pre-implantation embryos discrimination]. Cuad Bioet 2013; 24:475-498. [PMID: 24483320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2013] [Accepted: 12/28/2013] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
In October 2011 the Court of Justice of the European Union pronounced the sentence in the case Brüstle v. Greenpeace. This sentence resolves the preliminary ruling interposed by the Bundesgerichtshof. The object of the preliminary ruling was the interpretation of the expression "human embryos", on 44/98/CE Guideline, in order to resolve the litigation between Brüstle, a German neurobiologist, and Greenpeace. Brüstle have patented a process for obtaining stem cells using cells originally extracted from human embryos, Greenpeace have filed a lawsuit against this patent. The article analyzes the meaning of this sentence in the light of the discrimination of the pre-implantation embryos in Spanish law. The content of the Biopatent Guideline, the Opinions of the European Group on Ethics of Science and New Technologies related to it, the EUJC verdict and the Conclusions of the General Advocate are analyzed. We will pay special attention to the final verdict given on November 27, 2012, by the German Federal Court of Justice. The paper also considers the repercussion of Brüstle case at the European level, examining the activity of the European Parliament, in the frame of the discussion of the program Horizon 2020, and the citizen's initiative "One of us". At the Spanish level, the paper underlines the need to reform the laws of Human Assisted Reproduction and of Biomedical Investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Albert
- Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. Paseo de Artilleros s/n, Vicálvaro, 28032, Madrid. +34 646717549.
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Claiborn K. Federal funding for stem cell research: 15 years of indecision. J Clin Invest 2011; 121:2531. [PMID: 21866586 DOI: 10.1172/jci59436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
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Rodriguez S, Campo-Engelstein L, Tingen C, Woodruff T. An obscure rider obstructing science: the conflation of parthenotes with embryos in the Dickey-Wicker amendment. Am J Bioeth 2011; 11:20-28. [PMID: 21400380 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2010.546472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
In 1996 Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment (DWA) as part of an appropriations bill; it has been renewed every year since. The DWA bans federal funding for research using embryos and parthenotes. In this paper, we call for a public discussion on parthenote research and a questioning of its inclusion in the DWA. We begin by explaining what parthenotes are and why they are useful for research on reproduction, cancer, and stem cells. We then argue that the scientific difference between embryos and parthenotes translates into ethical differences, and claim that research on parthenotes is much less ethically problematic. Finally, we contextualize the original passage of the DWA to provide an explanation for why the two were possibly conflated in this law. We conclude by calling for a public discussion on reconsidering the DWA in its entirety, starting with the removal of parthenogenesis from this prohibition of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Rodriguez
- Oncofertility Consortium, Northwestern University, 303 E. Superior, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
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Affiliation(s)
- Carson Strong
- Department of Medicine, Health Science Center, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, 956 Court Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip H Schwartz
- National Human Neural Stem Cell Resource, Children’s Hospital of Orange County Research Institute, 455 South Main Street, Orange, CA 92868-3874, USA.
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Affiliation(s)
- George J Annas
- Department of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, USA
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Stojkovic M, Pittenger MF, Nolta JA, Lako M, Lappin TRJ, Murphy MJ. Stem Cells' position statement on hESC research. Stem Cells 2010; 28:1A. [PMID: 20809560 DOI: 10.1002/stem.517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Johnson MH, Franklin SB, Cottingham M, Hopwood N. Why the Medical Research Council refused Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe support for research on human conception in 1971. Hum Reprod 2010; 25:2157-74. [PMID: 20657027 PMCID: PMC2922998 DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deq155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2010] [Accepted: 05/26/2010] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In 1971, Cambridge physiologist Robert Edwards and Oldham gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe applied to the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) for long-term support for a programme of scientific and clinical 'Studies on Human Reproduction'. The MRC, then the major British funder of medical research, declined support on ethical grounds and maintained this policy throughout the 1970s. The work continued with private money, leading to the birth of Louise Brown in 1978 and transforming research in obstetrics, gynaecology and human embryology. METHODS The MRC decision has been criticized, but the processes by which it was reached have yet to be explored. Here, we present an archive-based analysis of the MRC decision. RESULTS We find evidence of initial support for Edwards and Steptoe, including from within the MRC, which invited the applicants to join its new directly funded Clinical Research Centre at Northwick Park Hospital. They declined the offer, preferring long-term grant support at the University of Cambridge, and so exposed the project to competitive funding mode. Referees and the Clinical Research Board saw the institutional set-up in Cambridge as problematic with respect to clinical facilities and patient management; gave infertility a low priority compared with population control; assessed interventions as purely experimental rather than potential treatments, and so set the bar for safety high; feared fatal abnormalities and so wanted primate experiments first; and were antagonized by the applicants' high media profile. The rejection set MRC policy on IVF for 8 years, until, after the birth of just two healthy babies, the Council rapidly converted to enthusiastic support. CONCLUSIONS This analysis enriches our view of a crucial decision, highlights institutional opportunities and constraints and provides insight into the then dominant attitudes of reproductive scientists and clinicians towards human conception research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin H Johnson
- Anatomy School and Trophoblast Research Centre, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Anatomy School, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.
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Roehr B. Judge halts US funding of embryonic stem cell research. BMJ 2010; 341:c4689. [PMID: 20798223 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.c4689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Van Steirteghem A. Can an understanding of the past influence research funding of the future? Hum Reprod 2010; 25:2155. [PMID: 20716564 DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deq237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Zigmond J. No fast start. A year after limits lifed, process goes slowly to get stem-cell research moving. Mod Healthc 2010; 40:17. [PMID: 20377157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
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Abstract
Embryonic stem cells are actively debated in political and public policy arenas. However, the connections between stem cell innovation and overall health care policy are seldom elucidated. As with many controversial aspects of medical care, the stem cell debate bridges to a variety of social conversations beyond abortion. Some issues, such as translational medicine, commercialization, patient and public safety, health care spending, physician practice, and access to insurance and health care services, are core health policy concerns. Other issues, such as economic development, technologic progress, fiscal politics, and tort reform, are only indirectly related to the health care system but are frequently seen through a health care lens. These connections will help determine whether the stem cell debate reaches a resolution, and what that resolution might be.
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Abstract
In the context of stem cell research, the promise of economic growth has become a common policy argument for adoption of permissive policies and increased government funding. However, declarations of economic and commercial benefit, which can be found in policy reports, the scientific literature, public funding policies, and the popular press, have arguably created a great deal of expectation. Can stem cell research deliver on the economic promise? And what are the implications of this economic ethos for the researchers who must work under its shadow?
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Thompson J. Response to Loane Skene, 'Should women be paid for donating their eggs for human embryo research'? Monash Bioeth Rev 2009; 28:1-4. [PMID: 20440982 DOI: 10.1007/bf03351317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
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Barclay L. The ethics of researchers paying women for their eggs. Monash Bioeth Rev 2009; 28:1-3. [PMID: 20440980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
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Abstract
Many assumed that the Obama administration would usher in a sea change from the previous administration by expanding NIH support for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research and reducing the patchwork of state and federal regulations that currently governs it. This article examines the extent to which NIH's new Guidelines are likely to accomplish these goals.
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López Moratalla N. [Does 2009 mark a revival of embryonic stem cells?]. Cuad Bioet 2009; 20:471-485. [PMID: 19799485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2009] [Accepted: 05/06/2009] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The legal possibility of using federal funds to work with embryonic cells and destroy embryos started on March 2009 in the USA. It has nothing to do with regenerative therapies. It is directed to create banks with human cells, banks directed by a few scientists involved in biotechnology enterprises connected with centers of in vitro reproduction. They pursue the use of ad hoc human embryos for biomedical research. The idea of using cell lines derived from embryos is quite spread, and even the idea of obtaining new lines of this type to validate reprogrammed somatic pluripotential cells, the so called iPS cell (induced pluripotent stem), without destroying embryos or using ovules. This type of cells is indeed of great value in medical research and it is opening new possibilities in Cell Therapy. Recent data are analyzed and considerations are advanced encouraging rational alternatives to eliminate embryonic cells in the evaluation of iPS cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia López Moratalla
- Departamento Interfacultativo de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Universidad de Navarra, 31080 Pamplona. Spain.
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Pedersen R. Out with the old, in with the new? Science 2009; 324:1617. [PMID: 19556472 DOI: 10.1126/science.1177267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Galvin JR. Connecticut's stem cell research program. Conn Med 2009; 73:297-298. [PMID: 19441767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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Lo B, Parham L, Broom C, Cedars M, Gates E, Giudice L, Halme DG, Hershon W, Kriegstein A, Kwok PY, Oberman M, Roberts C, Wagner R. Importing human pluripotent stem cell lines derived at another institution: tailoring review to ethical concerns. Cell Stem Cell 2009; 4:115-23. [PMID: 19200800 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2009.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Stem cell researchers commonly use human pluripotent stem cell lines derived by other investigators. Researchers may use lines derived elsewhere, provided that their derivation met consensus core standards. Some types of derivation raise heightened levels of ethical concern and require greater scrutiny. To maintain public trust, research institutions need to justify why they allow researchers to use lines whose derivation would not have been permitted locally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernard Lo
- Program in Medical Ethics, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
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Gottfried K, Varmus H. The enlightenment returns. Science 2009; 323:1538. [PMID: 19299588 DOI: 10.1126/science.1173563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Disappointed with the details. MLO Med Lab Obs 2009; 41:6. [PMID: 19309789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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Mayor S. Lack of funding prevents human-animal stem cell research in UK. BMJ 2009; 338:b207. [PMID: 19155257 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Latham SR. The once and future debate on human embryonic stem cell research. Yale J Health Policy Law Ethics 2009; 9 Suppl:483-494. [PMID: 19757716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
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Burt RA. Constitutional constraints on the regulation of cloning. Yale J Health Policy Law Ethics 2009; 9 Suppl:495-506. [PMID: 19757717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
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Fosset JW. Beyond the low-hanging fruit: stem cell research policy in an Obama administration. Yale J Health Policy Law Ethics 2009; 9 Suppl:523-551. [PMID: 19757719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- James W Fosset
- Rockefeller Institute of Government, Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Albany, State University of New York, USA
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Levine RJ. Federal funding and the regulation of embryonic stem cell research: the Pontius Pilate maneuver. Yale J Health Policy Law Ethics 2009; 9 Suppl:552-564. [PMID: 19757720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
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Abstract
In January 2008, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) (London, UK) issued two 1-year licenses for cytoplasmic hybrid embryo research. This article situates the HFEA's decision in its wider scientific and political context in which, until quite recently, the debate about human embryonic stem cell research has focused narrowly on the moral status of the developing human embryo. Next, ethical arguments against crossing species boundaries with humans are canvassed. Finally, a new argument about the risks of harm to women egg providers resulting from research involving the creation of humanesque cytoplasmic hybrid embryos is elaborated. Taken together these ethical concerns about the moral status of the human embryo, about the ethics of crossing species boundaries with humans, and about the potential harms to women (concerns that independently are more or less weighty for different constituencies), provide good reason to eschew humanesque cytoplasmic hybrid embryo research in favor of less ethically controversial means to the laudable end of successful regenerative medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francoise Baylis
- Bioethics and Philosophy, Dalhousie University, 1234 Le Marchant Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Abstract
Our human embryonic stem cell debates are not simply about good or bad ethical arguments. The fetus and the embryo have instead become symbols for a larger set of value conflicts occasioned by social and cultural changes. Beneath our stem cell debates lie conflicts between those who would privilege scientific progress and individual choice and others who favour the sanctity of family life and traditional family roles. Also at work, on both the national and international levels, is the use of the embryo by newly emergent social groups to express resentment against cultural elites. The organisational needs of religious groups have also played a role, with the issue of protection of the embryo and fetus serving as a useful means of rallying organisational allegiance in the Roman Catholic and evangelical communities. Because the epiphenomenal moral positions on the status and use of the embryo are driven by the powerful social, cultural or economic forces beneath them, they will most likely change only with shifts in the underlying forces that sustain them.
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Affiliation(s)
- R M Green
- Dartmouth Ethics Institute, Haldeman Centers Building, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
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Hyun I. Big bang theory: more reason to scrap Bush's stem cell policy. Hastings Cent Rep 2008; 38:5-6. [PMID: 19192704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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Abstract
In this paper we address the ethical challenges of research on cytoplasmic hybrid embryos, or "cybrids". The controversial pronouncement of the UK's Human Embryology and Fertilisation Authority of September 2007 on the permissibility of this area of research is the starting point of our discussion, and we argue in its favour. By a rigorous definition of the entities at issue, we show how the terms "chimera" and "hybrid" are improper in the case of cybrids, and how their use can bias the debate creating moral prejudices. After analysing the scientific aspects of cybrids research and sketching out current alternatives, we enter the ethical debate, starting from the premise that research on early human embryos is ethically permissible under some circumstances. We emphasise how research on cybrids has positive consequences in terms of scientific and therapeutic applications, since it allows the derivation of human embryonic stem cells genetically tailored to the somatic cell donor. Such cell lines offer a unique in vitro model both for studies of human pathogenesis and for drug screening and discovery. Research on cybrids also circumvents the problem of the scarcity of human oocytes and their ethically dubious donation. Finally, we object to the most common arguments against cybrids research, that is, moral repugnance, the slippery slope argument, the appeal to "nature", and the unfair distribution of economical resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Camporesi
- European School of Molecular Medicine, Milan, Italy.
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Robertson JA. Big bang theory: more reason to scrap Bush's stem cell policy. Hastings Cent Rep 2008; 38:4. [PMID: 19192703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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Cohen CB. Big bang theory: more reason to scrap Bush's stem cell policy. Hastings Cent Rep 2008; 38:4-5. [PMID: 19195105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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Saltzberg J. The current embryonic stem cell research federal funding policy. Undue respect to minority ethical considerations? J Leg Med 2008; 29:505-521. [PMID: 19023778 DOI: 10.1080/01947640802494846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
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Williams N. UK ramps up embryo research debate. Curr Biol 2008; 18:R356-7. [PMID: 18609758 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.04.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Abstract
Calls for the "translation" of research from bench to bedside are increasingly demanding. What is translation, and why does it matter? We sketch the recent history of outcome-oriented translational research in the United States, with a particular focus on the Roadmap Initiative of the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD). Our main example of contemporary translational research is stem cell research, which has superseded genomics as the translational object of choice. We explore the nature of and obstacles to translational research and assess the ethical and biomedical challenges of embracing a translational ethos.
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