Those who don't know (recent) history
Posted by Jesse Reynolds January 31, 2008
Biopolitical Times
While I was away from my desk last week, a member of the ethics committee of New York's stem cell research program accused the new $600 million agency of ignoring the committee's recommendations and "steam-rolling" ethics in the process. Granted, this committee member, Daniel Sulmasy, is an opponent of embryonic stem cell research and likely has an ax to grind. But in his op-ed, he claims that the committee, realizing that there was pressure to get funds out the door as soon as possible, unanimously recommended that grants go only to noncontroversial research for a few months, allowing the committee the time to draw up research standards. But the Empire State Stem Cell Board rejected this, worried that it would "send the wrong message to scientists." Sulmasy concludes:
These developments have an element of déjà vu. At the first full meeting of the nascent California stem cell research program in January 2005, board chair Robert Klein announced his intention to get funds out the door by May. We and other public-interest advocates pointed out the lack not only of research standards, but also of intellectual property policies and any resemblance of a strategic plan. Fortunately, in California's case, a mix of our advice and circumstance prevailed, and policies were in place before the first research grants were awarded in February 2007.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the New York program seem to have not learned lessons from the California experience.
This precipitous funding decision sends the wrong message - namely, that the discussion of research ethics should never encumber scientists' work. That's a dangerous premise for any society to hold. Was a six-month delay to allow ethical review really too much to ask? It's preposterous to propose that this would've had a "chilling effect" on science.Not surprisingly, the governor was able to hold a press conference, touting the first round of $14.5 million in funding.
New York citizens deserve a serious ethical review of how $600 million of taxpayer money will be spent on a potentially valuable but extraordinarily controversial field of research. If the ethics committee had been permitted to do its job seriously, the whole nation might have benefited from a rigorous, public, dispassionate debate of the weighty ethical issues at stake.
These developments have an element of déjà vu. At the first full meeting of the nascent California stem cell research program in January 2005, board chair Robert Klein announced his intention to get funds out the door by May. We and other public-interest advocates pointed out the lack not only of research standards, but also of intellectual property policies and any resemblance of a strategic plan. Fortunately, in California's case, a mix of our advice and circumstance prevailed, and policies were in place before the first research grants were awarded in February 2007.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the New York program seem to have not learned lessons from the California experience.