Isasi Rosario M
CRDP, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2009 Jun;5(2):108-15. doi: 10.1007/s12015-009-9067-z. Epub 2009 Mar 31.
Scientific developments in the field of stem cell research continue to emerge at incredible speed and so too has the contentious debate surrounding their broad implications. Though economic, socio-ethical and legal concerns remain, at both national and international forums; we are witnessing a departure from an "embryo-centric" approach, to one that is focused on the globalization of research and to the ensuing need for policy interoperability. The common response to the challenges associated with the meaning, scope, and ethical significance of variance in national policies, is a call for the creation of uniform legal and ethical standards. However, this call towards policy convergence on the fundamental ethical and governance principles underpinning policies choices has led to confusion and to the mystification of the notion of harmonization. In this article we aim demystify the notion of policy harmonization in the context of stem cell research. We will do so by surveying the diverse elements to be harmonized. We will then present the problems of policy interoperability in the context of the globalization of SC research, in order to propose that the goal of harmonization in this field lies in the identification of prospective strategies to foster seamless cross-jurisdictional collaboration. Finally, policy interoperability will be analyzed through the lens of a range of policy approaches addressing the cross-jurisdictional transfer of hESC lines with the aim of demonstrating that the apparent ethical-political-legal divide in some contexts largely vanishes once we grasp the notion of harmonization and identify points of convergence.
干细胞研究领域的科学发展仍在以惊人的速度不断涌现，围绕其广泛影响的争议性辩论也是如此。尽管在国家和国际论坛上，经济、社会伦理和法律问题依然存在；但我们正在见证一种从“以胚胎为中心”的方法转向专注于研究全球化以及随之而来的政策互操作性需求的转变。对于与国家政策差异的含义、范围和伦理意义相关的挑战，常见的应对措施是呼吁制定统一的法律和伦理标准。然而，这种要求在支撑政策选择的基本伦理和治理原则上实现政策趋同的呼声，却导致了混乱以及对协调概念的神秘化。在本文中，我们旨在揭开干细胞研究背景下政策协调概念的神秘面纱。我们将通过审视需要协调的各种要素来做到这一点。然后，我们将在干细胞研究全球化的背景下呈现政策互操作性问题，以便提出该领域协调的目标在于确定促进无缝跨辖区合作的前瞻性策略。最后，我们将通过一系列针对人类胚胎干细胞系跨辖区转移的政策方法来分析政策互操作性，目的是表明一旦我们理解协调概念并确定趋同点，某些情况下明显的伦理 - 政治 - 法律分歧在很大程度上就会消失。
