King's College, Women's Health and Society Seminar Series
Wednesday 5th October 2005, 16.30-18.00, Room 3.146, Franklin Wilkins,
Building, Waterloo Campus
Free and open to the public
For more information, contact Caroline Kirby-Smith on 020 7848 3023 or
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Ethnographic reflections on the ethics of embryonic stem cells
Wainwright, S.P. Williams, C. Michael, M. Farsides, C. & Cribb, A.
> Abstract
> Existing accounts of the ethics of stem cell research are invariably
> de-contextualised reviews of the ethical and legal literature. In this
> seminar, in contrast, we present a socially embedded account of some of
> the
> ethical implications of stem cell research, from the perspectives of
> scientists
> directly involved in this area. Based on an ethnography of two leading
> embryonic stem cell laboratories in the UK, our data forms part of the
> findings
> from a larger project mapping the scientific, medical, social and ethical
> dimensions of innovative stem cell treatment, focusing on the areas of
> stem
> cell science, and liver cell and pancreatic islet cell transplantation.
> In
> this seminar we explore three key issues: what individual scientists
> themselves
> view as ethical sources of human embryos and stem cells; their perceptions
> of
> human embryos and stem cells; and how scientists perceive regulatory
> frameworks
> in stem cell research. We argue that these dimensions of laboratory
> practice
> are all examples of 'ethical boundary-work', which is becoming an integral
> part
> of the routine practice and performance of biomedical science. We add to
> the
> relatively few sociological studies which explore ethics in clinical
> settings
> and to an even smaller body of work that explores scientists' views on the
> ethical issues relating to their research.
>
>
> --
> Steven Wainwright
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