Campbell Angela, Nycum Gillian
Faculty of Law, McGill University, Canada.
Med Law Int. 2005;7(2):113-48. doi: 10.1177/096853320500700202.
Despite near unanimous global opposition to human reproductive cloning, the United Nations has been unable to reach a consensus as to how cloning practices should be regulated at the international level. As a result, the U.N. objective of establishing binding international regulations governing cloning and stem cell research has yet to be achieved. Given the lack of consensus that exists within the global community on this topic, it seems that any attempt to harmonize the international regulation of cloning and stem cell science will face important obstacles. This paper seeks to illuminate the particular challenges to harmonizing international laws and policies related to stem cell research and human cloning, and to investigate potential methods for overcoming these challenges. By drawing on two other areas in which regulatory harmonization has been attempted, namely: environmental and human safety aspects of international trade, and pharmaceutical research and development, we study approaches to global regulatory harmonization. We conclude that while the challenges to harmonization are diverse and important, so too are the benefits of establishing uniformity in approaches to stem cell research worldwide. This paper proposes a model for harmonizing the regulation of stem cell research that focuses on broader norms and principles rather than specific rules. It further recommends that such harmonization should occur through a process initiated and developed by an independent international agency marked by diversity, both in terms of the cultural identities and perspectives represented, and the interdisciplinary expertise of its members.
尽管全球几乎一致反对人类生殖性克隆，但联合国在如何在国际层面监管克隆行为这一问题上仍未能达成共识。因此，联合国制定具有约束力的国际法规来管理克隆和干细胞研究的目标尚未实现。鉴于国际社会在这一问题上缺乏共识，任何协调克隆和干细胞科学国际监管的尝试似乎都将面临重大障碍。本文旨在阐明协调与干细胞研究和人类克隆相关的国际法和政策所面临的特殊挑战，并探讨克服这些挑战的潜在方法。通过借鉴另外两个曾尝试进行监管协调的领域，即国际贸易中的环境与人类安全方面以及药物研发，我们研究全球监管协调的方法。我们得出结论，虽然协调面临的挑战多样且重大，但在全球范围内建立统一的干细胞研究方法也有诸多益处。本文提出了一个协调干细胞研究监管的模式，该模式侧重于更广泛的规范和原则而非具体规则。它还建议，这种协调应通过一个由独立国际机构发起和推动的过程来实现，该机构在文化身份和观点的代表性以及成员的跨学科专业知识方面都具有多样性。
