Consuelo G. Erwin, Embryonic Stem Cell Research: One Small Step for Science or One Giant Leap Back for Mankind?

Consuelo G. Erwin, Embryonic Stem Cell Research: One Small Step for Science or One Giant Leap Back for Mankind? 2003 U. ILL. L.REV. 211.

Stem cell research holds significant potential to advance medicine. For example, research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in mice has shown that the embryonic stem cells may be used to cure Type I Diabetes by generating cells that could produce insulin and other pancreatic endocrine hormones. Stem cell research may also hold the potential to cure diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's as well as spinal cord injuries. Unfortunately, these advancements will not come without a cost.

This Note demonstrates the need for legislation banning embryonic stem cell research. Part II explains the science behind stem cell research and examines the development of the United States' policy of placing the progress of science secondary to the protection of human life. Part III determines that embryonic stem cell research violates the language and purpose of the Nuremberg Code and its policy choices embodied in subsequent federal legislation. The first section of Part III analyzes the human embryo's biological attributes, the case law surrounding the status of the human embryo in varying contexts, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's report on stem cell research, and the analogous debate involving fetal tissue research. Based on this analysis, it concludes that a human embryo involved in stem cell research should have the legal status of a human research subject and, therefore, embryonic stem cell research should be conducted under the limitations delineated in the Nuremberg Code.

The second section of Part III argues that embryonic stem cell research violates the United States' policy that scientific progress is secondary to protection of human subjects. It begins by applying the Nuremberg Code to determine whether embryonic stem cell research violates the language or purpose of the Code. Next, the section analyzes federal legislation and determines that the United States has made the policy choice to protect vulnerable human subjects. Finally, this section resolves that to allow embryonic stem cell research, the United States would have to forego its policy decision to protect human subjects, especially those who are vulnerable, even when the protection is achieved at the expense of scientific advancement.

The Nuremberg Code, with its underlying goal of preventing the unethical and...