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The Ethics Center

Human Stem Cell Research:
Are There Scientific Solutions to the Moral Dilemmas?

 An Interdisciplinary Conference


Date: June 6 - 7, 2005
Location: University of San Diego
Organizers:

Evan Snyder, The Burnham Institute
Mike Kalichman, Larry Hinman, Sara Burke, The Ethics Center

Panelists:

Mina Alikani, Thyo-Galileo Research Laboratories
Maureen L. Condic, University of Utah School of Medicine
Mary Devereaux, University of California, San Diego
Kevin C. Eggan, Harvard University
Lawrence S.B. Goldstein, University of California, San Diego
Lawrence M. Hinman, University of San Diego
William B. Hurlbut, Stanford University
Michael Kalichman, University of California, San Diego
Frances M. Kamm, Harvard University
Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, The National Catholic Bioethics Center
Adam L. Schulman, President’s Council on Bioethics
Evan Snyder, The Burnham Institute
Alan Trounson, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (guest panelist)
Derek J. van der Kooy, University of Toronto
Howard A. Zucker, Columbia University

~ See more information about the Panelists
Description:

Building directly on the dialogue about the moral status of the human embryo as discussed in our July 2004 conference, the Ethics Center organized an intensive, multidisciplinary panel workshop over a day and a half to examine the proposals recently presented to the President’s Council on Bioethics about possible alternative sources of human embryonic stem cells for research. Such alternative stem cell sources might resolve the conflict between the experimental need to use human embryonic stem cells and the concern of many that such experimental use requires the destruction of embryonic human life. The workshop resulted in a provisional consensus statement, and produced a series of ethical questions about these alternative stem cell options, which were then addressed by participants from the community during a luncheon session on June 7th. Each table at the luncheon engaged in moderated discussion of one of these questions, and in a wrap-up session, each table moderator presented the summary of this discussion to the entire group.
Provisional
Consensus
Statement		 We recognize that hESC research holds promise for research and clinical applications and that some people have serious ethical objections to current methods of deriving hESC on the grounds that they involve the destruction of human embryos. As a result, there will be continuing ethical controversy and restrictions on federal funding. If scientists came up with ways to derive human pluripotent stem cells in a manner that meets the objections of those who oppose the destruction of human embryos, this would both diminish the ethical controversy and enable federal funding. Federal funding will ensure that research will be conducted with uniform national standards of oversight, sufficient peer review, and transparency. Preliminary research discussed at this conference encourages us to believe that scientific solutions to this ethical concern may be feasible and provides a reason for pursing such alternatives.
Resources: Overview of Four Scientific Proposals for Alternative Sources
White Paper: Alternative Sources of Pluripotent Stem Cells
These Days Discussion of Alternative Stem Cell Sources