[Research und public confidence. The example of human stem cell research]

The starting point of the following reflections is the intense public debate about stem cell research among people in Germany; it took place before the law about stem cell research was passed in 2002 as well as in April 2008 when the German Parliament (= Bundestag) passed an amendment of the above mentioned law. The following article explains that one of the reasons why a large portion of the public still has reservations against stem cell research in general lies in the fact that there exists almost no confidence towards a still young, expanding and highly complex biomedical research. After explaining the part that confidence plays in the context of social and personal relations in all respects as well as in certain sections of modern society, the main question is which scientific intrinsic and external facts lead to a loss of confidence or to its reduction. The last part of the article discusses different ways of how the gap can be reduced between the level of confidence that is currently granted by the public and a possible increase of confidence that is essential for bio-medical research in general.