6 
Monitoring Stem Cell Research 
Even for those who favor embryo research, there are ques- 
tions about its proper limits and the means of establishing and 
enforcing those limits through meaningful regulation. Under 
the present arrangement, with the federal government only 
recently in the picture, what is done with human embryos, es- 
pecially in the private sector, is entirely unregulated (save in 
those states that have enacted special statutes dealing with 
embryo or stem cell research). Is this a desirable arrangement? 
Can some other system be devised, one that protects the hu- 
man goods we care about but that does not do more harm than 
good? What are those human goods? What boundaries can 
and should we try to establish, and how? 
Although well-established therapies based on transplanta- 
tion of stem cell-derived tissues are still largely in the future, 
concern has already been expressed (as it has been about 
other aspects of health care in the United States) about access 
to any realized benefits and about research priorities: Will 
these benefits be equitably available, regardless of ability to 
pay? How should the emergence of the new field of stem cell 
research alter the allocation of our limited resources for bio- 
medical research? How, in a morally and politically contro- 
verted area of research, should the balance be struck between 
public and private sources of support? As with any emerging 
discovery, how can we distinguish between genuine promise 
and “hype," and between the more urgent and the less urgent 
medical needs calling out for assistance?'^ 
There are also sensitive issues regarding premature claims 
of cures for diseases that are not scientifically substantiated 
and the potential exploitation of sick people and their families. 
Some advocates of stem cell research have made bold claims 
about the number of people who will be helped should the re- 
search go forward, hoping to generate sympathy for increased 
research funding among legislators and the public. A few ad- 
vocates have gone so far as to blame (in advance) opponents 
of embryonic stem cell research for those who will die unless 
the research goes forward today. At the same time, other sci- 
entists have cautioned that the pace of progress will be very 
slow, and that no cures can be guaranteed in advance. Which 
of these claims and counterclaims is closer to the truth cannot 
be known ahead of time. Only once the proper scientific stud- 
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