Universal Stem Cell Principles Proposed

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Concerned that the world's patchwork of laws and ethics rules governing human embryonic stem cell research is sowing confusion and stymieing international collaborations, scientists, ethicists and others have mounted a major effort to devise a set of universal principles that would guide the research everywhere.

The principles, one version of which was released by an international working group last week, would not supersede national or state laws. But they could codify basic rules of acceptable behavior in the many jurisdictions that lack stem cell laws -- including most U.S. states and the United States as a whole, where Congress has deadlocked over the issue for years.

Among the emerging principles are that restrictions on the research should be rare, well-justified and flexible enough to accommodate changes in the quickly evolving field, and that scientists should be free to do work abroad that is banned in their own country. The hope is that the principles will gain widespread acceptance over time, much as did early declarations of human rights. But the reach for consensus on stem cell research is arguably even more ambitious -- and difficult -- than that.

Embryonic stem cell research involves the creation and destruction of the earliest forms of human life -- an act that raises no alarms in some cultures, such as in Japan, but ignites intense controversy in the United States and other nations. The field's need for human embryos also creates a potentially lucrative market in human eggs that, depending on one's perspective, could be an opportunity for potential donors or put them at risk of exploitation.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102112.html