Abstract
We examine international public opinion towards stem-cell research during the period when the issue was at its most contentious. We draw upon representative sample surveys in Europe and North America, fielded in 2005 and find that the majority of people in Europe, Canada and the United States supported stem-cell research, providing it was tightly regulated, but that there were key differences between the geographical regions in the relative importance of different types of ethical position. In the U.S., moral acceptability was more influential as a driver of support for stem-cell research; in Europe the perceived benefit to society carried more weight; and in Canada the two were almost equally important. We also find that public opinion on stem-cell research was more strongly associated with religious convictions in the U.S. than in Canada and Europe, although many strongly religious citizens in all regions approved of stem-cell research. We conclude that if anything public opinion or ‘public ethics’ are likely to play an increasingly important role in framing policy and regulatory regimes for sensitive technologies in the future.
Highlights
A number of development trajectories in the domain of modern biotechnology–most notably the fate of genetically modified (GM) food in Europe–have demonstrated the centrality of public concerns in sustainable technology development
Important to note is that our final model explained more than 30 percent of the variation in approval for stem-cell research. While this leaves open the possibility that other systematic unmeasured factors are important for a full understanding of public opinion on the issue, it does mean that the dimensions we have investigated here are of substantial importance
The fault lines of contemporary bioethics are reflected in public views
Summary
A number of development trajectories in the domain of modern biotechnology–most notably the fate of GM food in Europe–have demonstrated the centrality of public concerns in sustainable technology development. Drawing on data from three comparative social surveys, which together captured public opinion in Western Europe, the U.S and Canada at a time when the stem-cell debate was at its height (in the mid-2000s), we investigate factors underlying divergences in public perceptions. The variation between the U.S, Canada and Europe in styles of governance, regulatory regimes and cultural contexts provides a useful comparative framework to explore differences in attitudes towards stem-cell research.
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