Essay - Stem Cell Research on March 02, 2006 Rick Weiss Reported...

Stem Cell Research

On March 02, 2006 Rick Weiss reported in The Washington Post that due to the myriad of laws and ethics rules governing human embryonic stem cell research, an international community of scientists, ethicists ***** others have begun to collaborate on setting out a set of universal principles that will guide stem cell ***** worldwide (Weiss 2006). *****se principles would not supersede national or state laws, but could codify basic ***** of acceptable behavi***** in the jurisdictions that lack ***** cell laws, "including most U.S. states and ***** United States as a whole, where Congress has deadlocked over the issue for years" (***** 2006).

Among the emerging principles are that restrictions should be rare, well-justified and flexible, and ***** scientists should be free to work abroad if research is banned in their own country (Weiss 2006). The group is hoping that the ***** *****, over time, gain widespread acceptance much as did early declarations ***** human rights, however Weiss cautions that ***** "reach for consensus on stem cell research may ***** even more ambitious ***** difficult than that" (Weiss *****).

Embry*****ic stem cell research, which involves ***** creation and destruction of the earliest forms of ***** life, is an act ***** in some cultures, such as Japan, ra*****es no alarms, while in other countries, such as the United *****, it ignites *****tense controversy (Weiss 2006). ***** points out that the need for human embryos creates a potenti*****lly lucrative market in human eggs, which could be an opportunity for donors or place ********** at risk for exploitation (Weiss 2006). Moreover, ***** scientists who travel abroad to escape restrictions in their home countries, create "research tourism" (Weiss 2006).

However, proponents believe that even if there is nom*****al success, the international collaboration will greatly aid future research, because ***** Peter J. Donov*****, biology professor at the University of California at Irvine remarked, "It's very difficult in labs today to have all the expertise yourself" (Weiss 2006).

***** the April *****, 2005 ***** of the National *****ournal, Neil Munro discussed the potential use of stem cells in accelerating the development ***** new drugs (Munro *****). According ***** James Battey, chairman of the stem-cell task force at ***** National Institutes of Health, says ***** embryonic stem cells could be sued to shorten the drug-***** process (Munro 2005).

Munro notes that this is one of several new twists in the long-running debate over stem cells that surfaced as advocates stepped up their promotion of new initiatives in ***** states *****, like the 2004 successful initiative on ***** California b*****ot, would pump hundreds of milli*****s of dollars into embryo-cell technologies (Munro *****). In Massachusetts, New Jersey, and ***** York, "these measures have been promoted as steps toward the cure of deadly dise*****es, ***** also as providing benefits to local medical and drug companies and state economies" (Munro 2005). Proposition 71 not only provided funding but also created an agency to manage the money, the ***** *****stitute for Regenerative Medicine (W*****serman 2006). The fate of Cali*****nia's