Press release for Stem Cell Century

Will Breakthrough Technology Transform Our World?

Many scientists believe stem cell research could change the very nature of medicine. Today we employ chemicals to stop disease processes and we surgically alter ailing bodies. In the future, stem cell technologies might make it possible for bodies to heal themselves. Damaged or malfunctioning cells could be recreated and replaced by stem cells, providing treatments or cures for some of the most challenging health problems that afflict us.

But will stem cell technologies live up to these high hopes? Of course, part of the answer lies with scientists. But part of the answer reaches beyond science to policy and law. In Stem Cell Century: Law and Policy for a Breakthrough Technology, to be published in November by Yale University Press, Russell Korobkin provides the first thorough analysis of the unsettled legal and policy issues surrounding stem cell science. The policy decisions we make now, at the dawn of the “stem cell century,” he argues, will help determine whether stem cell research fulfills its promise to improve the human condition or founders.

The explosion in stem cell research raises many controversial questions. A few of these questions, such as whether it is proper to destroy human embryos in stem cell research, have been widely and publicly debated, although often superficially. Korobkin’s detailed analysis in a chapter entitled “The Embryo Wars” makes sense of this hotly contested issue, examining whether embryos have the same moral status as living persons and criticizing the logic of President Bush's position and that of Congress. Other critically important, rarely recognized issues also demand consideration as the science gallops forward, however, and Stem Cell Century is the first book to analyze them:

• Could a single scientist patent all human stem cells, making it illegal for any other scientist to conduct research using stem cells without paying a fee?
• When public dollars are used to fund biomedical research that leads to valuable inventions, who should profit?
• What does cloning have to do with stem cell research, and what would happen to stem cell research if all cloning were banned, as some members of Congress propose?
• Should scientists be required to obtain informed consent from those asked to donate tissues for stem cell research? Should scientists have to disclose their financial interest in their research to potential donors? Should research on embryos require the consent of both people - the sperm and the egg donor - whose gametes created the embryo?
• Should donors of tissue for stem cell research be paid? To what rights to compensation or control should donors be entitled when they provide tissues to doctors or researchers?
• Should the FDA regulate stem cell treatments like other pharmaceuticals, or do the unique features of stem cells require unique regulation?
• Should the manufacturers of stem cell treatments approved by the FDA receive special protection from private lawsuits not given to more conventional medical products?
• If a treatment requires stem cells from a compatible donor, should parents be permitted to use new technologies to ensure that they give birth to a new child who is compatible with a sick child?

These are just some of the issues we face. In Stem Cell Century, Korobkin couples clear and concise description of complex problems with logical and well-balanced conclusions. The result is essential reading for all Americans, general readers and experts alike, interested in the promise of stem cell research and the future of regenerative medicine.

For more information, contact Liz Pelton, 410-467-0989, lizpelton@aol.com.