HOME  INTERVIEWS  RESOURCES  NEWS  ABOUT

View by:  Subject  Theme  Question  Term  Person  Event

Private Sector Oversight

Although public funds have been expended in support of adult stem cell research, to date all advances in human embryonic and fetal germ cell research have come from the private sector, under-written by biotechnology companies in the hope that products will be developed for medical therapy. This raises important questions about whether ethical and broader social considerations can be adequately addressed by continued exclusive funding by the private sector. The addition of the public oversight that accompanies federal funding offers substantial advantages. Such advantages include increased research productivity, earlier results from the research, a broader range of participation by academic scientists, increased public understanding and support, and greater possibilities that therapies will be developed with consideration for the public good will.

Private sector sponsorship of research certainly does not preclude a degree of oversight or adherence to ethical practices. Geron Corporation, the private company sponsor of all published human embryonic and germ cell research to date, convened an Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) in September 1998 to develop guidelines for the ethical conduct of stem cell research. The EAB sought further public discourse by inviting The Hastings Center Report to publish its findings complete with dissenting views.Symposium. "Stem Cell Research." The Hastings Center Report, 29: 33-48 (March-April 1999). If such boards were to become institutionalized by the private sector, they would have the most credibility and weight if they reviewed ethical and social issues during the start-up phase of research, had a multi-disciplinary membership, including representatives from the local community, and gave minimum, if any, financial compensation for service. Their impact would be greatest if they shared their own findings and recommendations with other companies. However, even with the best of intentions, if a private company establishes its own EAB but disapproves of the Board’s findings, there is no guarantee that the company would abide by the EAB’s conclusions and recommendations. This could undermine public confidence and raise anxiety about the manner in which stem cell research is proceeding.

There are other concerns associated with sole reliance on private sector funding of stem cell research. There is the very real possibility that market forces and perceived investment opportunities by companies will, in the absence of federal funding, exert a disproportionately powerful influence on the development of stem cell research without adequate attention to public priorities. One result could be that the focus of such research will be on diseases likely to lead to profit at the expense of less common but more severe diseases. There is also the possibility that stem cells will become caught up in an expanded marketing of human body parts. In a day when the market for individual genes, or even gene fragments, holds lucrative possibilities,While just in its infancy, the potential market for gene-specific pharmaceuticals is huge. For the biotechnology industry’s view of this topic, see: http://www.forbes.com/specialsections/biotech99/01.htm....great caution should be taken in ceding domain to this area of research to the private sector in the absence of open and widespread public consultation.

Email link | Printer-friendly | Feedback | Contributed by: AAAS DoSER and the Institute for Civil Society

Topic Sets Available

AAAS Report on Stem-Cells

AstroTheology: Religious Reflections on Extraterrestrial Life Forms

Agency: Human, Robotic and Divine
Becoming Human: Brain, Mind, Emergence
Big Bang Cosmology and Theology (GHC)
Cosmic Questions Interviews

Cosmos and Creator
Creativity, Spirituality and Computing Technologies
CTNS Content Home
Darwin: A Friend to Religion?
Demystifying Information Technology
Divine Action (GHC)
Dreams and Dreaming: Neuroscientific and Religious Visions'
E. Coli at the No Free Lunchroom
Engaging Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence: An Adventure in Astro-Ethics
Evangelical Atheism: a response to Richard Dawkins
Ecology and Christian Theology
Evolution: What Should We Teach Our Children in Our Schools?
Evolution and Providence
Evolution and Creation Survey
Evolution and Theology (GHC)
Evolution, Creation, and Semiotics

The Expelled Controversy
Faith and Reason: An Introduction
Faith in the Future: Religion, Aging, and Healthcare in the 21st Century

Francisco Ayala on Evolution

From Christian Passions to Scientific Emotions
Genetic Engineering and Food

Genetics and Ethics
Genetic Technologies - the Radical Revision of Human Existence and the Natural World

Genomics, Nanotechnology and Robotics
Getting Mind out of Meat
God and Creation: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on Big Bang Cosmology
God, Humanity and the Cosmos: A Textbook in Science and Religion
God the Spirit - and Natural Science
Historical Examples of the Science and Religion Debate (GHC)
History of Creationism
Intelligent Design Coming Clean

Issues for the Millennium: Cloning and Genetic Technologies
Jean Vanier of L'Arche
Nano-Technology and Nano-ethics
Natural Science and Christian Theology - A Select Bibliography
Neuroscience and the Soul
Outlines of the Science and Religion Debate (GHC)

Perspectives on Evolution

Physics and Theology
Quantum Mechanics and Theology (GHC)
Questions that Shape Our Future
Reductionism (GHC)
Reintroducing Teleology Into Science
Science and Suffering

Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (CTNS/Vatican Series)

Space Exploration and Positive Stewardship

Stem-Cell Debate: Ethical Questions
Stem-Cell Ethics: A Theological Brief

Stem-Cell Questions
Theistic Evolution: A Christian Alternative to Atheism, Creationism, and Intelligent Design...
Theology and Science: Current Issues and Future Directions
Unscientific America: How science illiteracy threatens our future
Will ET End Religion?

Current Stats: topics: >2600, links: >300,000, video: 200 hours.