CGS big logo Overview linkTechnologies linkPolicies linkAnalysis linkPerspectives link

 

 


Home >> Analysis >> Media Coverage >> Summer 2001: The "Stem Cell Wars"
 
home
newsletter
resources
site map
about us

 

 

Coverage of human genetic technology shifted dramatically in the summer of 2001, when controversy over embryonic stem cells consistently made the front pages of The New York Times, the Washington Post, and other national newspapers. The stem cell issue was often blurred by and confused with the issue of research cloning.

The media framed the issue simply as one of "medical progress versus pro-life politics" as the July 9 cover of Newsweek put it. Other voices—including those pointing to the links between research cloning and reproductive cloning, and to the fact that research cloning is a technical prerequisite for germline engineering—were all but absent.


Off-Site Links

Several articles have been published that serve as examples of the way the political field has been largely described as one of scientists hoping to save lives versus opponents of abortion rights who see destroying stem cells as equivalent to taking a life.

Examples of the way cloning and stem cells have been portrayed as interdependent technologies:

Carl Hall, "Untangling biotech issues: cloning is research field entirely separate from stem cells," San Francisco Chronicle (December 3, 2001) - attempts to disentangle cloning and stem cell technologies
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/12/03/MN138336.DTL&type=science


More Information

Perspectives: Explore various communities' concerns regarding human genetic technologies

Policies: Read about existing and potential regulations

Technologies: Learn the basic science and consider arguments for and against

Date modified: