MEDICAL ETHICS

Panelists Frame Ethics of Stem Cell Debate

When privately held Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester announced on Nov. 25, 2001, that it had produced human embryos by cloning, the stem cell debate leaped back to center stage where it had been before Sept. 11. The research, published online in e-biomed, stirred criticism from some scientists as preliminary and censure from President Bush as "morally wrong." The purpose of the work was to advance therapeutic cloning, using somatic cell nuclear transfer to create pre-implantation human embryos; these would be a source for immune-compatible, totipotent stem cells to treat injury or disease in the patient-donor. 

This polarizing debate was the subject of a program at HMS the following week, on Dec. 3, 2001, which featured the president and CEO of the company, Michael West, and three other panelists. Their consensus was that scientists need to become more vocal in the national stem cell dialogue to ensure that arguments are guided by ethics and grounded in science.

The ethicist on the panel, Walter Robinson, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Children's and associate director of the Medical Ethics Division, characterized the current national debate as having a lot of heat but not much light. He said approaches to stem cell research cannot be viewed as either scientific or ethical because science and ethics cannot be separated.

The most heated exchange came in response to an audience member identifying himself as a pastor-theologian, who said it would be better to begin with the ethical issues instead of the science. "There are some people for whom scripture is a way of thinking about these matters. The question is how do you read scripture?"

Kuttner quickly took exception. "Science is not about liturgy," he said. "Science is about experimentation that is falsifiable by empirical inquiry."