Stem Cell Research: The Ethical Issues

In this timely collection, some of the world's leading ethicists grapple with the variety of issues posed by human embryonic stem cell research.

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• Investigates the moral status of the embryo including the creation of chimeras and paying for gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos for research purposes
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• Provides a thorough evaluation of the ethics and politics of regulating hESC research, and the privacy, confidentiality, and informed consent in the conduct of research and clinical investigations
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• Essential reading for scientists, philosophers, policy makers, and all who are interested in the ethical conduct of science
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• Contributors include David DeGrazia, Lori Gruen, Elizabeth Harman, John Harris, Jeff McMahan, Don Marquis and Peter Singer

The social and political climate surrounding human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research is constantly changing, as is the science, with new developments occurring at a regular pace. Rapid changes can exacerbate fears, and fears often contribute to sweeping pronouncements and prohibitions that may not, ultimately, withstand rational scrutiny. This collection of essays represent one of the most philosophically engaged and biologically informed discussions of the central ethical issues raised by stem cell research to date.

• Do blastocysts have moral status?
  
• Do stem cells themselves have a special status?
  
• Can “surplus” embryos respectfully be used for research?
  
• Should human-animal chimeras be created?
  
• Should women be paid for their eggs?
  
• What is the best mechanism for dealing with deep disagreements in a democratic society?

The carefully constructed arguments that seek to answer these questions should contribute to and encourage more rigorous public debate about the ethics of stem cell research.

Lori Gruen is associate professor of philosophy at Wesleyan University, where she also chairs the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and directs the Ethics in Society Project. She has published widely on topics in practical ethics, including animal ethics and mind, feminist ethics and politics, and philosophy of law. She is currently engaged in ongoing collaborations with Laura Grabel addressing biological ethics.

Laura Grabel is Fisk Professor of Natural Sciences and professor of biology at Wesleyan University. She has worked with embryonic stem cells for more than twenty years, and her current projects include identifying signals that promote the differentiation of embryonic stem cells and examining conditions that support successful transplantation of these cells in mouse models of human disease. She is an advocate for stem cell research and collaborates with Lori Gruen on topics in biological ethics.

Peter Singer is currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor in the Centre for Applied Ethics and Public Policy at the University of Melbourne. He has taught at the University of Oxford, New York University, La Trobe University, and Monash University. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Reproduction Revolution, Rethinking Life and Death, and, most recently, The Way We Eat.