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- Swine Flu Virus
Luke Jerram
This detail image of a
swine flu virus sculpture, itself one in a series of glass
sculptures which includes an HIV virus now displayed at the
Wellcome Collection in London, is a reflection on how images of
phenomena are represented to the public. Scientific images (of
viruses for example) are
often taken in black and white on an electron microscope and
then coloured artificially by scientists or the press, sometimes
for scientific reasons, sometimes for aesthetic reasons (or to to add emotional content,
including fear). The public is thus lead to believe there is
scientific authenticity or truth in these images, but they are not necessarily accurate,
and the limits of imaging technology also leaves a lot of
questions unanswered. Because the H1N1 virus is quite amorphous, without one fixed
shape, it offered some artistic flexibility, and the intention
with this sculpture was to encourage an appreciation of the beauty of virology, but also
to highlight the tension between that beauty and the danger that
the virus represents, and the terrible impact it could have on humanity.
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| Editorial |
- News From The Scripted Offices
Findlay Stark, pp.242-243
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| Reviewed Articles |
- "Beyond the Embryo: Transnational, Transdisciplinary and
Translational Perspectives on Stem Cell Research"
Rosario Isasi and Bartha M Knoppers, pp.244-247
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- Open Access and the Regulation of Commercialisation of
Human Stem Cell Lines in the UKSCB
Carol C. George, pp.248-264
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Although the United Kingdom is
well regarded internationally for its initiative with the UKSCB,
its regulatory framework poses significant issues for the
realisation of therapies from human stem cell lines. A
reassessment of the operations of the Bank in the wider context
of stem cell line governance provides an opportunity to examine
the relationship between the considerations that shaped HFEA
policy on embryo research and their impact on the subsequent use
of stem cell lines.
The proposal of this paper is that governance of the use of stem
cell lines is not an integral part of the UK regulatory
framework for embryo research and that commercial considerations
are not necessarily subordinated to this regime. On the
contrary, commercial considerations are highly relevant and
should be given close attention by policymakers and the Steering
Committee of the Bank in the process of development of an open
access production system for stem cell lines in the United
Kingdom.
- Clinical Translation of Stem Cell Therapies -
Intellectual Property and Anticipatory Governance
Yann Joly, pp.265-273
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Though promoted as the next
pillar of medical care, stem cell research has yet to make a
major clinical impact. After an extremely difficult period in
the late 90’s and the early 2000’s, the potential for clinical
translation of stem cell therapies has been portrayed in a more
positive light for the past three years. However, evidence
demonstrates that the recovery of the stem cell industry is
still incomplete and that recent success has been modest. There
is still considerable reluctance to invest in stem cell
research. One of the factors causing this reluctance is the
uncertainty surrounding stem cell patents. In this paper we
discuss the impact of patents on stem cell research and propose
an anticipatory governance/real-time monitoring platform to
promote the technology transfer of stem cell research. This
approach would provide an ideal framework to anticipate hurdles
raised by patents, select reflexive strategies and develop a
shared vision of the role intellectual property should play in
the clinical translation of stem cell research.
- Stem Cell Tourism: Assessing the State of Knowledge
Aaron D. Levine, pp.274-282
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Policy concern about patients
travelling in search of unproven stem cell based interventions (SCBIs)
– a practice known as “stem cell tourism” – has grown in recent
years. These concerns are driven by the lack of convincing
evidence of the safety or efficacy of these interventions and
the resulting worry that individuals pursuing these unproven
treatments may be putting themselves unnecessarily at risk and,
perhaps, hindering legitimate translational stem cell research.
This article reviews existing literature on stem cell tourism,
focusing in particular on what is known about the providers of
unproven SCBIs, the patients who pursue these interventions, and
the outcomes of such interventions. The article concludes by
highlighting gaps in the existing literature base and suggesting
questions for future investigation.
- Lost in Translation: China’s Struggle to Develop
Appropriate Stem Cell Regulations
Dominique McMahon and Halla Thorsteinsdóttir, pp.283-294
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This paper examines the
regulations that govern stem cell use in China. We draw our
findings from an analysis of government policies and documents,
formal and grey literature, and thirty-nine interviews with
Chinese stem cell experts. Although China developed research
guidelines for embryonic stem cell research early on, it is
still struggling to develop appropriate regulations surrounding
the clinical translation of stem cell research. We identify the
lessons that can be learned from China’s experiences developing
appropriate regulations for their stem cell sector, and show the
importance of timely regulation and of regulation for each stage
of product development from research through to clinical
applications. We discuss the development of appropriate
regulation, and the international significance of Chinese stem
cell regulations.
- Bionetworking: Between Guidelines and Practice in Stem
Cell Therapy Enterprise in India
Prasanna Kumar Patra and Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner, pp.295-310
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Many stem cell therapies, even
though largely unproven, are widely viewed as promising to
global healthcare provision. India is a leading proponent of the
practice of making this therapy available as a last resort to
patients from around the world, who are prepared to risk their
remaining health and financial resources in exchange for hope.
Stem cell therapy service centers, labeled as ‘rogue’ or
‘maverick’ by some, are vigorously promoting such therapies as
‘safe’ modes of treatment in the guise of ‘experimental’
therapy. This has been carried on in India even since its
promulgation of the Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and
Therapy in 2007. This article is based on a multi-site
ethnographic study carried out at several locations in India
between September and December 2008. It raises two questions:
why the use of unproven therapies is becoming common practice in
jurisdictions in which regulatory apparatus is in place; and,
how these service providers are succeeding in sustaining and
proliferating such therapeutic practices. By employing the
concept of bionetworking, we have tried to describe the gap
between regulation and implementation. This article divides
service providers into three categories - public sector, private
sector and individual practitioner - on the basis of their
institutional embeddedness. It explores how service providers
are able to exploit the gray areas of regulatory systems to
their own entrepreneurial ends. The article highlights how local
actors engaged in stem cell therapy draw on international norms
of bioethics but adopt them according to various underlying
rationales, shaped by local patterns of governance,
institutional development and policy-making.
- Stem Cell Research in the News: More than a Moral Status
Debate?
Christen Rachul, Amy Zarzeczny, Tania Bubela and Timothy
Caulfield, pp.311-323
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The interest and controversy
generated by stem cell research over the past decade has raised
hopes for scientific breakthroughs and debates regarding the
limits of ethical research. In particular, the debate
surrounding the moral status of the embryo has received
considerable attention in scientific and political arenas.
However, coverage in the public arena of the elite press is less
clear. We explore and reflect on the coverage of this debate in
the public realm of the elite press in the United States, the
United Kingdom, and Canada, by examining newspaper articles from
each jurisdiction collected over a period of two decades.
- Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in Iran: The Role of
the Islamic Context
Mansooreh Saniei, pp.324-334
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Human embryonic stem cell (ESC)
research is highly contentious in many societies, as it makes
use of human embryos. Due to their varying socio-cultural,
religious and political backgrounds, individual countries have
different regulatory approaches which play an important role in
international human ESC research collaborations. Thus, studying
the complexity of regulatory frameworks in different parts of
the world highlights differences and similarities between
nations, the variety of views on specific issues, and the range
of regulatory uncertainties. I will therefore review the
ethical, social and legal implications of human ESC research in
Iran, which has assumed a leadership role in this area among the
Middle Eastern Muslim countries. In this essay, I shall first
describe how human ESC research is both shaped and regulated by
Islamic law and ethics. I will then discuss the current state of
this field and its ethics in Iran. In conclusion, I will argue
that, although both science and religion are key factors in the
current debate surrounding human ESC research, additional
factors influence the manner in which new knowledge is taken up
in countries with the same religious background or scientific
interests.
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| Analysis |
- ZOMBIES! Not Just the Undead, but the Near-Dead and the
Never-Living: An Introduction to SCRIPTed’s “Zombie” Analysis
Section
Shawn H.E. Harmon, pp.335-337
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- Technology Convergence: Governance and Gaps in the Era of
Enhancement (or “ZombAIs ante Portas!”)
Shawn H.E.
Harmon and Wiebke Abel, pp.338-350
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Within the context of a given
scenario, the authors undertake a preliminary exploration of
issues around the convergence of several technologies:
artificial intelligence technology, nanotechnology, and red
biotechnology. First, we consider the state of these
technologies and where they appear to be headed, identifying
current capabilities, desired future objectives, and known
technical shortcomings to the realisation of the scenario.
Second, we identify some of the key social, ethical and legal
issues raised by the scenario, highlighting the regulatory
instruments that are currently most influential on the
development of these techno-sciences and their capacity to
address the issues raised (i.e. to address the development of
moral machines and socially acceptable intelligent implants). We
conclude that there is a need for further and better – more
“joined-up” – regulation to govern the convergence of these
fields, which will see the science fiction of today (both
utopian and dystopian) become a reality.
- The Zombie from Myth to Reality: Wade Davis, Academic
Scandal and the Limits of the Real
David Inglis, pp.351-369
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The figure of the zombie is one
of the most ubiquitous in contemporary popular culture. They are
also beginning to be more at the centre of academic attention in
a range of areas, beyond specialists in ethnology and folkloric
beliefs. The image of the zombie seems to symbolise and embody a
diverse range of phenomena. But the figure of the zombie was not
always so intellectually respectable, especially if it was
claimed that zombies were not just symbols but were in fact
“real”. In the mid-1980s the ethnobotanist Wade Davis claimed
that far from being only folkloric images, zombies were in fact
“made” in Haiti. Actual cases of zombification could be
demonstrated, and proven to result from the particular
religious, social, moral and legal codes of Haitian peasant
society. Davis’s publication of the claims caused a storm of
controversy that in some ways has still not subsided. This paper
traces out the nature both of Davis’s claims, and the scandal
they gave rise to. Reasons are offered as to why the zombie
subject matter seemed at the time to be so scandalous. The
implications of Davis's unintended contribution to the
development of taking zombies seriously within the academy are
presented and reflected upon.
- Zombie Botnets
Alana Maurushat, pp.370-383
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Zombie botnets are the greatest
Internet threat of the current generation. Botnets are said to
be involved in most forms of cybercrime and civil wrongdoing
ranging from sending spam, to denial of service attacks, to
child pornography distribution to key-logging technology and
traffic-sniffing which captures passwords and credit card
numbers. This article traces the rhetoric of the term zombie in
the world of computer security, describes the inner workings of
a botnet, and argues that one method of botnet curtailment will
be through Internet Service Provider bot remediation programs
that slow down the propagation methods of botnets and act as a
catalyst to clean up infected computers.
- ZombAIs: Legal Expert Systems as Representatives “Beyond
the Grave”
Burkhard Schafer, pp.384-393
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This paper explores the
possibility of computer assistance for the interpretation of
wills and testaments. It draws from experience with legal expert
systems developed for the interpretation of laws and other legal
norms.
- In Vitro Meat: Zombies on the Menu?
Neil Stephens, pp.394-401
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In April 2008 the In Vitro Meat
Consortium held its first meeting at the Norwegian Food Research
Institute. They are a group of scientists and advocates who seek
to turn the techniques of tissue engineering to the production
of food, producing meat in laboratories that has at no point
been part of a living animal. This is a fascinating technology,
and one that fits well with the topic of this SCRIPTed analysis
section: the ‘zombification’ of meat products. I have been
conducting interviews with scientists who are involved in In
Vitro Meat research at the three main research sites to explore
the emergent social, ethical and regulatory issues of the
technology. In this discussion I first provide detail on the
current level of scientific development in the field and then
describe the social context and promise of In Vitro Meat, before
finally returning to the central question of what exactly In
Vitro Meat is: zombie or not?
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| Reports |
- The Leibniz Center for Law
Tom van Engers and Radboud Winkels, pp.402-405
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- Governance of Stem Cell Science: Multiple Models &
Similar Outcomes
Geoffrey
Lomax, pp.406-408
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| Book Reviews |
- The Law of Electronic Commerce
By Alan Davidson
Reviewed by Luca Escoffier, pp.409-411
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- Law and Society Approaches to Cyberspace
By Paul Schiff Berman
Reviewed by Andres Guadamuz, pp.412-413
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- Speaking For the Dead: The Human Body in Biology and
Medicine
By D. Gareth Jones and Maja I. Whitaker
Reviewed by Ken Mason, pp.414-418
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- Trade Mark Law And Sharing Names: Exploring Use Of The Same Mark By Multiple Undertakings
By Ilanah Simon Fhima (ed)
Reviewed by Abdallah Ziadat, pp.419-420
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