ESTOOLS - Advances with human embryonic stem cells - Ethics Workshop 2

• Lisbon International Symposium
  & 3rd Ethics Workshop
• Theatre premiere
  Staminalia: a Dream and a Trial
• partner-organised events
• PREVIOUS EVENTS ORGANISED BY ESTOOLS ⬇
• Sofia Stem Cells Symposium - Софийски Отворен Симпозиум за Стволовите Клетки
• Third Annual Meeting & Open Symposium - Rome May 2009
• Winter School - Lapland January 2009
• Second Ethics Workshop - Lund October 2008
  • Programme
  • Reports
• Second Annual Meeting - Budapest June 2008
• Media Training Workshop - Turku April 2008
• Scientific Communication Workshop - Edinburgh October 2007
• Recombineering workshop - Dresden September 2007
• First Annual Meeting - Brno May 2007
• FACS workshop - Sheffield May 2007
• First Ethics Public Workshop - Berlin April 2007
• Summer School - Sheffield August/September 2006

 

Ethics Workshop 2

Ethical aspects of research on iPS cells and inter-species embryos

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Grand Hotel, Lund, 2-3 October 2008

INTRODUCTION

What are the promises and problems of research on inter-species embryos? Under what conditions would such research be ethically ethically acceptable?

What are the promises and problems of research on iPS cells? What are the ethical and regulatory issuies raised by the discovery of these cells?

These challenging questions were explored during the "Ethical aspects of research on iPS cells and inter-species embryos" workshop. The workshop was organized by the EU-funded ESTOOLS project (co-ordinated by Peter Andrews, Sheffield).

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The Full Report is available as a pdf - download it

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A summary Thematic Report follows below - download it

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WORKSHOP THEMES

1.    Research on inter-species embryos

a.    Scientific state of the art
b.    Regulatory background
c.    Animal ethics concerns
d.    Ethical and societal challenges
e.    Public perception

2.    Research on iPS cells

a.    Scientific state of the art
b.    Regulatory challenges
c.    EU funding policy of stem cell research
d.    Ethical and societal  aspects
e.    Public perception

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Sweden
The Netherlands
UK

PARTICIPANTS
Around 60 participants attended this workshop. Like the invited speakers, they represented a spectrum of communities interested in or concerned by the ethical, societal and regulatory issues raised by the themes of this workshop. Participants included scientists working with iPS cells and inter-species embryos, as well as scientists working in other areas of stem cell research. In addition lawyers, ethicists and philosophers, as well as representatives of the European Commission, attended and contributed to the workshop.

PROGRAMME - click here

THE DISCUSSIONS


Questions about the conditions for ethical acceptability of interspecies embryo research, including the regulatory problems it raises, generated a lively discussion. So did the discussion of the problems and prospects of research on iPS cells compared to research on human ES cell lines. The least controversial issues related to security and safety aspects - the crucial importance of these issues was already clear to participants.
It should be stressed that there was no formal voting about which conclusions the participants agreed on at the workshop. The statements below should therefore be taken only as tentative conclusions that emerge from the contributions and the subsequent discussions. These conclusions have been sorted into two categories
(a) Statements on which there was a general agreement 
(b) Statements or questions that were controversial, unclear or needed further debate / research.

The conclusions are presented in the form of fairly “naked” statements. There is no claim of completeness in this thematic overview. For more information about the contributions of he various speakers and the discussions see the summaries prepared by Kristina Hug

THEME 1:

ETHICAL ASPECTS OF INTERSPECIES EMBRYO RESEARCH

 

THEME 2:

HUMAN ES CELLS AND IPS CELLS

This thematic report was prepared by Göran Hermerén from workshop notes and Kristina Hug’s summaries of the general discussions and the contributions of the speakers at the workshop.