Mildred Cho and David Magnus at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University have a pretty good piece here on the therapeutic misconception of stem cell research.

Of particular interest is their caution to stem cell researchers. First, they’ve over sold their case by promising saved lives and therapies that still don’t exist.

Their second point is of key interest: “some stem cell research will depend upon participation of a class of individuals who are not patients and also not research subjects—egg donors—and for whom a different type of therapeutic misconception can exist.”

Curious since the Declaration of Helsinki which is to guide ethical principles in the use of human subjects for medical research appears to be violated here!

Author Profile

Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, CBC Founder
Jennifer Lahl, MA, BSN, RN, is founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network. Lahl couples her 25 years of experience as a pediatric critical care nurse, a hospital administrator, and a senior-level nursing manager with a deep passion to speak for those who have no voice. Lahl’s writings have appeared in various publications including Cambridge University Press, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and the American Journal of Bioethics. As a field expert, she is routinely interviewed on radio and television including ABC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. She is also called upon to speak alongside lawmakers and members of the scientific community, even being invited to speak to members of the European Parliament in Brussels to address issues of egg trafficking; she has three times addressed the United Nations during the Commission on the Status of Women on egg and womb trafficking.