Our cells/ourselves: creating human embryos for stem cell research

In September 1999, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) submitted its report, "Ethical issues in human stem cell research." The report recommends federal funding for stem cell research involving human embryos remaining after infertility treatment. It also suggests that at some later time, it may be appropriate for there to be federal funding for this same research using embryos expressly created for research purposes. This essay compares this recommendation to a similar recommendation reached 5 years earlier by the Human Embryo Research Panel of the National Institutes of Health. The NBAC recommendation is found to be much better packaged relative to the (contentious) goal of securing federal funding for this type of research. The merits of this goal are not discussed here. Instead, disappointment is expressed with the absence of any serious discussion of the ethical issues raised by the future possibility of stem cell research using research embryos. The report's silence on this question is significant given its promise to promote public debate on the profound ethical issues regarding human stem cell research.