How embryonic stem cell research set precedent for self-regulation in US scientific community

In 2005, in response to intense public debate and an absence of federal regulation, the U.S. research community self-imposed guidelines that regularized some aspects of embryonic stem cell research, to ensure that the embryos were freely donated by couples who would otherwise have discarded them.

It also set limits on some research that raised both technical concerns and public controversy, such as experiments that combine human and non-human embryonic material. The guidelines also became the basis of the international voluntary guidelines laid out by the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

Overall, the scientific community tolerated a great deal of interference and limitation, when it agreed to create independent embryonic stem cell research oversight committees that went beyond federal or state requirements, to provide an extra layer of self-regulation for ongoing consideration of experiments as the science evolved, and to help maintain the fragile public trust necessary to ensure that this valuable science remained free from the periodic efforts to make it criminal.

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The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: The Case of Embryonic Stem Cell Research