What's the matter by Kansas? Legislative debates over stem cell research in Kansas and Massachusetts

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Stabile
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Stem Cell Research ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Therapeutic Cloning ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
The Future ◽  
Restrictive Legislation

This paper examines the contextual factors shaping legislative debates affecting stem cell research in two states, Kansas and Massachusetts, which both permit therapeutic cloning for stem cell research but markedly vary in their legislative approach to the issue. In Kansas, restrictive legislation was proposed but effectively blocked by research proponents, while in Massachusetts permissive legislation was successfully implemented under the auspices of an act to promote stem cell research. The importance of university and industry involvement is highlighted in each case, as are the roles of enterprising and persistent policy entrepreneurs. Providing a close examination of the policy process attending the cloning debate in these states is intended to contribute to an enhanced understanding of the cloning-policy process as it has played out at the state level, with an eye toward informing legislative debates over related biotechnical advances in the future.

scholarly journals The New Federalism: State Policies Regarding Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nefi D. Acosta ◽  
Sidney H. Golub
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Stem Cell Research ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Federal Funding ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Restrictive Legislation ◽  
The Right

Stem cell policy in the United States is an amalgam of federal and state policies. The scientific development of human pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) triggered a contentious national stem cell policy debate during the administration of President George W. Bush. The Bush “compromise” that allowed federal funding to study only a very limited number of ESC derived cell lines did not satisfy either the researchers or the patient advocates who saw great medical potential being stifled. Neither more restrictive legislation nor expansion of federal funding proved politically possible and the federal impasse opened the door for a variety of state-based experiments. In 2004, California became the largest and most influential state venture into stem cell research by passing “Prop 71,” a voter initiative that created a new stem cell agency and funded it with $3 billion. Several states followed suit with similar programs to protect the right of investigators to do stem cell research and in some cases to invest state funding in such projects. Other states devised legislation to restrict stem cell research and in five states, criminal penalties were included. Thus, the US stem cell policy is a patchwork of multiple, often conflicting, state and federal policies.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Cloning: Scientific, Ethical and Legal Perspectives

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 543-595
Author(s):  
Leora Dahan
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Embryonic Stem Cell ◽  
Stem Cell Research ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Embryonic Stem Cell Research ◽  
Therapeutic Cloning ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Undifferentiated Cells

AbstractAt the turn of the millennium, some of the most controversial topics being internationally debated were the issues of embryonic stem cell research and cloning. Stem cell research involves the exploration of the medical possibilities latent in primary, relatively undifferentiated cells. Such research, however, is not fully supported by the entire scientific community or by all of the general public due to the ethically controversial practices involved in such research. Generally, stem cell research requires the destruction of an embryo, which is perceived by some as the destruction of human life, or at least the destruction of an entity bearing the potential to evolve into human life. Thus, despite its vast potential, stem cell research has been condemned by some as disrespectful of the value of human life, and even as murder. Similarly, therapeutic cloning techniques have been attacked as unnatural and unethical, especially due to their close affiliation with reproductive cloning. The wide variety of opinions held throughout the globe has lead to a diverse spectrum of legal arrangements. Various governments have chosen to regulate this matter in various ways. Some have explicitly addressed the matter in primary legislation, while others have chosen more indirect ways of “resolving” the situation. Still others have chosen to “ignore” the problem by neglecting to establish a clear legal policy. This article reviews the various ethical and legal perspectives held with regard to these controversial fields and suggests the preferability of one particular ethical tendency and one particular method of regulation.

scholarly journals Stem Cell Research: Back to the Future

Stem Cells ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 356-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curt I. Civin
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Stem Cell Research ◽  
The Future

Introduction

Mapping Power ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Sunila S. Kale ◽  
Navroz K. Dubash ◽  
Ranjit Bharvirkar
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Political Economy Analysis ◽  
Economy Analysis

The introductory chapter lays out the rationale for the volume and provides a framework for analysing the political economy of Indian electricity. We first present a historically-rooted political economy analysis to understand the past and identify reforms for the future of electricity in India. We next outline an analytic framework to guide the empirical chapters of the book, which locates electricity outcomes in the larger political economy of electricity, the field of politics that are specific to each state, and each state’s broader political economy. The chapter ends by providing concise synopses of the state-level narratives of electricity in the fifteen states included in the volume.

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