The development of discourse in human stem cell research and bioethics

The intention of this project has been to explore how the conflicting priorities created by human embryonic stem cell research, namely the promise for medical progress on one hand and the experimental use of human embryos on the other have come about, which efforts have been made to resolve them and how they are continuing to be (re)negotiated. An important item of this analysis has been a series of interviews which have been performed with eminent researchers in developmental and stem cell biology. These interviews represent the prime route to document the development of the research and its specific evaluation by the researchers themselves. They have been complemented by an analysis of biomedical, bioethical, legal, and socio-scientific publications, as well as reports by ethics commissions, science policy statements and media reports.

This comprehensive analysis has shown that the public discourse can be subdivided into three phases which seem to be connected via a common narrative, the so called "therapeutic promise". The first phase consists of the scientific developments in biomedical research. The second phase includes the public discussion under bioethical guidance and the introduction of legal measures. The third phase comprehends the political and economic measures which aim at establishing human embryonic stem cell research as a novel research domain. These three phases can be distinguished on a temporal, as well as on a structural level. The therapeutic promise functions in each of them as an organising principle: In phase I it initiates and stabilises a therapeutic turn within biomedical research. In phase II it structures the public debate by creating and managing a moral dilemma. In the still ongoing phase III it seems to serve as a paradigm for a novel type of medicine intended to regenerate the aging individual and with it the social system.

The outcome of this analysis is being published in scientific articles as well as in the form of a monograph directed to a more general readership, comprising professionals from the disciplines of medicine, ethics, law and politics. It is intended to support and foster an informed and comprehensive ethical and legal debate on novel developments in biomedicine.