Embryo Research In Pluralistic Europe

Recent advances in techniques and understanding in the fields of genetics, embryology and reproductive biology have opened up new ways to treat a wide range of medical problems. They range from new options for infertility treatment and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to stem-cell-based therapies for debilitating diseases. Since all these approaches involve the manipulation of human gametes, embryos or embryonic cells, and could also permit more contentious uses, they have stimulated a controversial debate as to what aims are desirable and to what extent experiments on human embryos are morally permissible, if permissible at all. The situation is further complicated by the fact that scientific projects are increasingly realized through international co-operation and that patients are increasingly ready to seek morally contentious medical treatment wherever it is available and thus to bypass national legislation. In view of this situation the Europäische Akademie assembled a temporary interdisciplinary project group in which scientists from universities and non-university research organizations in Europe working on the relevant subjects were brought together and charged with establishing a knowledge base and providing suggestions for long-term solutions that would be acceptable for society. Presented here are the results of this project, ranging from a discussion of the theoretical and practical possibilities in human-embryo experimentation and its alternatives in research on adult stem cells, a comparison of the situations and prospects of regulation of embryo research in Europe, a survey of European public attitudes, and a philosophical analysis of the arguments and argumentative strategies used in the debate.

"Provides an understanding of the basic concepts in stem cell biology and addresses the politics, ethics, and challenges currently facing the field"--From publisher description.

Embryonic stem cell research holds unique promise for developing therapies for currently incurable diseases and conditions, and for important biomedical research. However, the process through which embryonic stem cells are obtained involves the destruction of early human embryos. Katrien Devolder focuses on the tension between the popular view that an embryo should never be deliberately harmed or destroyed, and the view that embryonic stem cell research, because of its enormous promise, must go forward. She provides an in-depth ethical analysis of the major philosophical and political attempts to resolve this tension. One such attempt involves the development of a middle ground position, which accepts only types or aspects of embryonic stem cell research deemed compatible with the view that the embryo has a significant moral status. An example is the position that it can be permissible to derive stem cells from embryos left over from in vitro fertilisation but not from embryos created for research. Others have advocated a technical solution. Several techniques have been proposed for deriving embryonic stem cells, or their functional equivalents, without harming embryos. An example is the induced pluripotent stem cell technique. Through highlighting inconsistencies in the arguments for these positions, Devolder argues that the central tension in the embryonic stem cell debate remains unresolved. This conclusion has important implications for the stem cell debate, as well as for policies inspired by this debate.

This Dictionary analyses the ways in which the statuses of European citizens are profoundly affected by EU law. The study of one’s particular status (as a worker, consumer, family member, citizen, etc.) helps to reconsider the legal notions concerning an individual’s status at the EU level. The Dictionary includes a foreword by Evgeni Tanchev, Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union, which illustrates some interesting features of the Court’s case law on statuses.The Dictionary’s core is composed of 79 chapters, published in alphabetical order. Each brief chapter analyses how the individual status was conditioned or created by contemporary EU law, or how the process of European integration modified the traditional juridical definition of the respective status. The Dictionary provides answers to the following questions: Has the process of European integration modified the traditional juridical definition of individual status? Has the concept of legal status now acquired a new function? What role has EU law played in developing a new modern function for the concept of individual status? Are the selection of a specific individual status by EU law and the proliferation of such statuses, which is synonymous with the creation of new privileges, collectively undermining the goal of achieving substantive equality between EU citizens? Does this constitute a return to the past? Under EU law, is it possible to create a uniform definition of the legal status of the person, over and above the definition that is provided by a given Member State’s legal system?

This book - one in the four-volume set, Global Governance and the Quest for Justice - focuses on human rights in the context of 'globalisation' together with the principle of 'respect for human rights and human dignity' viewed as one of the foundational commitments of a legitimate scheme of global governance. The first part of the book deals with the ways in which 'globalisation' impacts on established commitments to respect human rights. When human rights are set against, or alongside, potentially competing priorities, such as 'security' or 'economy' how well do they fare? Does it make any difference whether human rights commitments are expressed in dedicated free-standing instruments or incorporated as side-constraints (or 'collaterally') in larger multi-functional instruments? In this light, does it make sense to view a trade-centred community such as the EU as a prospective regional model for human rights? The second part of the book debates the coherence of a global order committed to respect for human rights and human dignity as one of its founding principles. If 'globalisation' aspires to export and spread respect for human rights, the thrust of the papers in this volume is that it could do better, that legitimate global governance demands that it does a great deal better, and that lawyers face a considerable challenge in developing a coherent jurisprudence of fundamental values as the basis for a just global order.

This book offers the first comparative account of the changes and stabilities of public perceptions of science within the US, France, China, Japan, and across Europe over the past few decades. The contributors address the influence of cultural factors; the question of science and religion and its influence on particular developments (e.g. stem cell research); and the demarcation of science from non-science as well as issues including the ‘incommensurability’ versus ‘cognitive polyphasia’ and the cognitive (in)tolerance of different systems of knowledge.

This book collects the contributions to a conference of a group of young Polish and German public law scholars on the Constitutional Law of the European Union. The articles present a multi-faceted examination of unity and its realization in the primary and constitutional law of the EU, an analysis of EU constitutional structure in the face of diversity, and the independence of EU law from international common law, among other topics.

The Human Genome Project has triggered a technological revolution that has influenced nearly every field of medicine, including reproductive medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, andrology, prenatal genetic testing, and gene therapy. This second edition of Clinical Ethics at the Crossroads of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies offers a thorough, timely discussion of ethical issues raised by the latest genetic and genomic technologies applied in human reproductive and prenatal medicine, providing practical recommendations, guidelines, and algorithms to support ethical clinical practice. Here, international experts consider the ethics of technologies from preconception carrier screening to genetic engineering, CRISPR gene editing, mitochondrial gene replacement therapy, sex selection, predictive testing, secondary findings, embryo reduction, and the moral status of the embryo, genetic enhancement, and the sharing of genetic data. Throughout the book, contributors adopt a global, holistic perspective on applied challenges and the moral questions around the implementation of genetic reproductive technologies. The book is an ideal resource for practitioners, regulators, lawmakers, clinical researchers, genetic counselors, and graduate and medical students.This fully updated second edition examines new developments in the field, tackling ethical aspects of organoid development, recent advances in pharmacogenomics, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, and genetic engineering. • Provides practical analysis of the ethical issues raised by cutting-edge techniques and recent advances in prenatal and reproductive geneticsContains contributions from leading bioethicists and clinicians who offer a global, holistic perspective on applied challenges and moral questions relating to genetic and genomic reproductive technology • Discusses preconception carrier screening, genetic engineering, and the use of CRISPR gene editing, mitochondrial gene replacement therapy, and ethical issues, among others • Considers ethical aspects of recent advances and new technologies in the field, from organoid development to pharmacogenomics and direct-to-consumer genetic testing