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Policy Design for Human Embryo Research in Canada: An Analysis (Part 2 of 2)

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Abstract

This article is the second in a two-part review of policy design for human embryo research in Canada. In the first article in 6(1) of the JBI, we explain how this area of research is circumscribed by law promulgated by the federal Parliament and by guidelines adopted by the Tri-Agencies, and we provide a chronological description of relevant policy initiatives and outcomes related to these two policy instruments, with particular attention to the repeated efforts at public consultation. This second article analyses the history of policy design for human embryo research in Canada, applying a typology of modes of public consultation developed by Eric Montpetit to better understand the various episodes of policy design and their corresponding outcomes. On this basis, we suggest that the degree to which the views of Canadian residents and citizens on human embryo research have been solicited as part of the policy-making process has diminished significantly over time. We also suggest that this diminished participation is likely to continue given the presence of powerful interest groups and policy communities “speaking for” Canadians. This raises interesting questions about the legitimacy of future policy initiatives for human embryo research in Canada.

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Notes

  1. June 27, 2008 it was announced that there would be no Update to the Stem Cell Research Guidelines (last updated June 29, 2007). See http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/36552.html. Accessed 4 January 2009. Also, personal communication, Manon Lechasseur July 2, 2008.

  2. Whereas typically practice is made to conform to guidelines, in this instance guidelines were made to conform with practice. The 2002 Guidelines did not discuss the use of fresh versus frozen embryos for hES cell research. Once it became clear that researchers were using fresh embryos for hES cell research, the 2005 Guidelines were amended to legitimize this research. For a detailed discussion of this see Baylis and McInnes (2007).

  3. Note, the information on consent to hES cell research included in this article is both incomplete and inaccurate insofar as it fails to discuss the relevant legislation and explain that the legislation takes precedence over the directives in the Guidelines for Stem Cell Research.

  4. At the time this article was published (May 2008), three of the authors (Knoppers, Isasi, and Nagy) were SCN-funded researchers, Cohen and Dickens were former SCOC members, and Brandhorst, Leader, and Evans were current SCOC members. In our view, it is possible (likely) that the former SCOC members were current SCOC members at the time the original manuscript was prepared. In the body of the article the authors acknowledge that five of the authors “are current or former members of the SCOC” (Cohen et al. 2008, 417). In the acknowledgements, three of the authors “thank the Canadian Stem Cell Network for funding support” (Cohen et al. 2008, 420). Nowhere in the article is there a statement about conflict of interest.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are owed to Eric Montpetit and two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft.

Competing interests

Françoise Baylis was a member of the CIHR ad hoc Working Group on Stem Cell Research from November 2000 to December 2001 and a member of the CIHR Governing Council from January 2002 to December 2004. She was a Principal Investigator funded by the Stem Cell Network from January 2002 to December 2005. Currently she is a member of the Board of Directors of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada. The views expressed herein are her own.

Funding support

This work is supported by a research grant from the Australian Research Council (to Susan Dodds) and a salary award from the Canada Research Chairs program (to Françoise Baylis).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dalhousie University, Novel Tech Ethics, 1234 Le Marchant St., Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 3P7

    Françoise Baylis

  2. School of Law, Loyola University Chicago, 25 E. Pearson St., Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Matthew Herder

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  1. Françoise Baylis
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Correspondence to Françoise Baylis.

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Baylis, F., Herder, M. Policy Design for Human Embryo Research in Canada: An Analysis (Part 2 of 2). Bioethical Inquiry 6, 351–365 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-009-9145-6

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