Earlier this year, An international group of scientists and others convened at Hinxton, England (see the related Policy Forum in this issue, p. 921), to address the moral challenges facing collaboration in human embryonic stem cell research that emerge from differences in national laws. Although a focus on embryo research is understandable, it is not the only area of science in which societies differ in values and laws. Scientists throughout the world work under different regulatory regimes governing human subjects, nonhuman animals, pathogens and bio-hazards, genetic modification of organisms and plants, and access to medical and public health records. In some cases, these differences reflect disagreements about ethically permissible conduct that approach the intensity of debates about the moral status of the embryo.
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