Finally, the Boston Globe takes on the preposterous Massachusetts law that essentially makes it illegal to “destroy” an embryo. Like laws in several other states (including Pennsylvania, another potential stem cell leader), the Massachusetts law requires that researchers who do not want to see themselves in jail at the hands of some overzealous pro-life DA to secure the permission of [that] DA (or a judge) to do stem cell research involving embryonic stuff. But Harvard political theorist Michael Sandel has a solution:
Michael J. Sandel, professor of government at Harvard, is not part of that inquiry, but he is a member of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. In a telephone interview last week, Sandel — stressing that he was speaking only for himself — sketched the outlines of a thoughtful position that the Legislature should review. He favors regulations that allow research not only on blastocysts left over from in-vitro fertilization but also those created for the express purposes of research. That makes sense as long as the Legislature follows another of his recommendations: the establishment of a state review board to track the ethics of biotechnology.
[thanks Art Caplan]