Zeno and the Paradox of Stem Cell Research
R. Alto Charo, J.D.
University of Wisconsin, Madison
This presentation will provide an update on the distance we've covered -- in ethical argumentation, in public and private funding, in public opinion development -- as well as the distance left to go. New ideas in ways to evade ethical dilemmas fuel proposals to halt existing programs. Activist groups typically hostile to anti-abortion efforts now find themselves hostile as well to embryo research. Public funding sources are stymied by litigation. And all the while, incremental progress toward developing ethical guidelines to the conduct of the research continue to find new dilemmas, in the acquisition of biological materials, in the use of animals for preclinical research, and in the move to safely translate research into human applications.
R. Alta Charo, J.D., is the Elizabeth S. Wilson - Bascom Professor of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she is on the faculty of the Law School and the Medical School's Department of Medical History and Bioethics.
All Biomedical Ethics Grand Rounds are presented the first Tuesday of each month from 12 pm — 1 pm in Room M-104, Stanford University School of Medicine. Please contact Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics at 650-723-5760 for further schedule information. Please visit our website at http://scbe.stanford.edu for additional information on speakers and topics.