The Ramazzini Institute
for Occupational and Environmental Health Research   

Who Are We?

Moral Questions
Stem Cells in the Marketplace?

     On August 23 President Clinton had a press conference to discuss new federal guidelines on federally funded research using stem cells. That same day, the stock prices soared for two biotech companies that specialize in stem cell research and development: StemCells Inc. and Aastrom Biosciences.

     Stem cells are cells with multiple potentials found in very early days of embryonic development. They become other kinds of specialized cells in tissues and organs. These cells can also come from an adult, but many scientists believe that when they come from an embryo, rather than an adult, they appear to be more useful in replacing defective or damaged cells that cause a broad range of diseases, such as diabetes, neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and spinal cord injuries.

     The federal guidelines are meant to govern the use of tissue obtained from discarded embryos that would be destroyed in any case after an abortion. Federal money is not to be used for the destruction of embryos to get the cells. The cells are to be obtained with private funds from sources of embryos already slated for disposal.

      To discourage creation of a market for the embryos, and therefore for abortions, no payments may be made to embryo donors. Other than the question of funding embryo stem cell research per se, an issue not examined here, there remains the question of whether or not a market is created regardless of the intent and language of the new rules. If embryonic tissue is given a dollar value, if a profit is to be made in its purchase and sale, then regardless of the rule, a market is created for the tissue here and in countries with laws not quite so fastidious as we like to believe ours to be. A rule against providing an incentive to abort may be difficult to enforce by a government whose Congress severely limits the hiring of enforcement officers for everything from tire safety to carcinogens in drinking water, and whose Executive Branch fails to regulate toxic agents in its own workplaces! [See in this issue articles on asbestos and research subject protection.]

     How would the World Trade Organization treat the issue? Japan is considering, but does not have a regulation on the issue. Britain has what at first glance appear to be less stringent rules. The European Community has only begun to tackle the problem. [See Global Legislation.] What is left may be self-regulation in the marketplace, albeit an unwanted and illegal marketplace.

     What is the machinery of the market place? Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, believed that the ideal market place is moved by our “own gain … led by an invisible hand to promote an end “ which is no part of our intentions.  Trouble is, to paraphrase some modern economists, the invisible hand is often all thumbs, even in the pursuit of our own selfish interests. 

      “…That same day, the stock prices soared …”