Contested Cells: Global Perspectives on the Stem Cell Debate

This book represents the coming together of a number of internationally renowned scholars from science, philosophy, law and socials science. Each author presents a distinctive and critical account of the current ethical, social and jurisprudential issues concerning stem cell science: together covering both its research beginnings, and the future translation into the clinical setting. Original to this volume is an emphasis on the inter-state implications of developments in stem cell science from the perspective of a truly global collaboration of leading authors. Academics and policy-makers will find it an invaluable contribution to the socio-political and ethical discourse of stem cell science.

This book is an edited collection of linked essays on the moral description, understanding, and evaluation of values within the regional (e.g. Europe, North America and Asia) and global setting in stem cell science. Themes include the potential value in finding and affirming common ethical norms; the possibility of compromise in reaching ethical consensus (or agreement) in stem cell science (this is a topic which concerns so-called procedural ethics, jurisprudence, and political philosophy in ethical debate); and the benefits, dangers and goals of assenting to a global/regional ethic. There is a focus on therapy and the translation of stem cell research into the clinic, and to give emphasis to the principles that can solve disagreement in biomedical issues within pluralistic settings.