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Reviews in Medical Ethics - Stem Cell Century: Law and Policy for a Breakthrough Technology by Russell Korobkin, with Stephen R. Munzer (Yale University Press, 2007): 312 pages
Decoding the Stem Cell Debate: A Primer Par Excellence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2021
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References
Korobkin, R. (with Munzer, S.), Stem Cell Century: Law and Policy for a Breakthrough Technology (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007).Google Scholar
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Id., at 7. What Korobkin likely meant is that the human body houses two types of cells, somatic cells and sex cells (eggs and sperm); the former contain 46 chromosomes while the latter have only 23. See Nussbaum, R. McInnes, R. Willard, H., Thompson & Thompson, Genetics in Medicine, 6th ed. (Toronto: Saunders, 2004), at 5. This point is critical, and is later well-described in the book in the context of somatic cell nuclear transfer in which the 23-chromosomed nucleus of an egg cell is removed and replaced by the 46-chromosomed nucleus of a somatic cell in order to create a genetically matched organism to the tissue donor.Google Scholar
Kolata, G., “New Stem Cell Method Could Ease Ethical Concerns,” New York Times, November 21, 2007, available at <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/science/21stem.html> (last visited January 7, 2008).+(last+visited+January+7,+2008).>Google Scholar
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In November 1998, President Clinton asked his National Bioethics Advisory Commission to review the issues associated with human stem cell research. NBAC issued its report in September 1999. In August 2001, the Bush Administration charged its President's Council on Bioethics to report on the science and ethics of stem cell research. See National Bioethics Advisory Commission, Ethical Issues in Human Stem Cell Research (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1999) and President's Council on Bioethics, Monitoring Stem Cell Research (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2004).Google Scholar
The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would have loosened restriction on federal funding for stem cell research, was twice passed by Congress and twice effectively vetoed by President Bush. See Korobkin, , supra note 1, at 41–43.Google Scholar
A November 27, 2007, search of the terms “stem cell research” in the Westlaw database for all state and federal case law produced 24 cases, 11 of which were challenges to federal policies and state voter initiatives governing funding of stem cell research, three of which involved patent or trademark infringement, and the rest mostly invoking the terms in dicta.Google Scholar
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See Doe v. Shalala, 862 F. Supp. 1421 (D. Md. 1994) (plaintiff frozen embryo sought to enjoin activity of NIH Human Embryo Research Panel because any research using human embryos deprives it of constitutional right to life; case dismissed for lack of standing).Google Scholar
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This is the view of several queried individuals who have expertise in the field of assisted reproductive technologies and egg donation. Susan Crockin, a Massachusetts attorney specializing in assisted reproduction and the law, when asked about her clients’ views toward research, stated that “I think what's fair to say is that in working with donors for over a decade to create legal agreement with recipient couples, in the past few years I’ve seen an increased reluctance by donors to agree to allowing embryos they helped create for an infertile couple be re-donated for both procreative use and research.” Email correspondence with Susan Crockin, December 3, 2007. Steven Lazarus, a Los Angeles attorney specializing in assisted reproduction and the law responded to the author's statement as follows: “Although I see an increasing number of donors who ask that excess egg and/or embryos not be donated to research, I still think the author is correct in the statement that ‘most individuals’ do not object to said disposition.” Email correspondence with Steven Lazarus, December 3, 2007. Steve Masler, CEO of The Donor Source, an Orange County, California agency that offers egg donation and surrogacy services, polled his case managers on the question of donation to research. Again, a small minority reported that some egg donors do ask about research, though the number hovers at less than 10 percent. Email correspondence with Steve Masler, December 3, 2007. All emails on file with author.Google Scholar