Stem cell research and the ethics of transparency.

Stem cell research represents a field of scientific inquiry subject to intense public and political attention and debate worldwide. There are several reasons for this. First, it is a research endeavor surrounded by great expectations of future therapeutic benefits. Some of these expectations seem to be well founded, while others originate from adult and embryonic research enthusiasts having hyped their case. A second reason why this represents a field of public and political attention relates to deeply felt concerns regarding the moral justifiability of sacrificing potential human lives for research. The aim of this paper is to discuss different ways of making the performance of international embryonic stem cell research more transparent, and of unveiling the need for more open-minded dialog concerning the ethical costs of this research endeavor.