Official and Public Stances on hESR

In Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner’s “Regulating cell lives in Japan: avoiding scandal and sticking to nature,” I found the discussions about the official and public stances on hESR (human embryonic stem cell research) especially intriguing. After the Cabinet’s Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) voted in favor of the use of hES cells from aborted fetuses to better scientific research in 2004, there were a variety of responses to the important decision. The CSTP’s intention was to improve laboratory and clinical research by restricting hES cell lines to only curing “serious diseases, and only if detailed informed consent procedures using a coordinator would be followed” (232). This was accomplished by the CSTP having its Bioethics Expert Panel create the guidelines for therapeutic cloning, known as the Interim Report Working Group of Therapeutic Cloning.

I am surprised that the author states, “The public discussion on hESR in Japan is limited” (232). It seems that such a significant decision for a country should have led to more of a response. Sleeboom-Faulkner continues, “Only the views of a few groups, such as the anti-eugenics network, the Soshiren (Japanese women’s movement), some patient movements, and religious groups were voiced in the media” (232). It is understandable that there are different types of reactions to the CSTP’s decision, but I expected that there would be a higher sense of urgency. Sleeboom-Faulkner explains, “The low-key nature of the debate, according to group discussions held in December 2008, was due to the general aversion among Japanese people to “unnatural” practices and “high-tech” and “commercial” attitudes towards life, a view also voiced among some members of disabled movements” (233). There are many opinions with regard to how to use the hES cells, including restricting them to only assisting your kind. However, it seems that for a country so advanced in the realm of technology, the people should voice their opinion more loudly over this issue than they are doing now.