@article{oai:soar-ir.repo.nii.ac.jp:00006867, author = {玉井, 真理子 and 稲垣, かずみ and 蔵田, 伸雄}, journal = {紀要}, month = {Feb}, note = {The human embryonic stem cell (hES-cell) is produced from a fertilized human egg at the early embryonic stage. The hES-cell is capable of differentiating itself into any type of tissue, such as nerves and bones. It is very versatile. The hES-cell by itself cannot grow to be an individual organism. In other words, it does not possess totiopotency. However, there exists a wide variety of applications with the hES-cell. For instance, tissues for transplantation could be mass-produced in a test tube. In December 1998, the Bioethics Committee, an advisory body to the Prime Minister or Japan, appointed the Human Embryo Subcommittee. The subcommittee submitted a written proposal to regulate the hES-cell research after over one year of debate. The proposal states that the hES-cell research shall be allowed if and only if a surplus embryo, as a byproduct of fertility treatment, is available and used for research purposes. The proposal mandates that an informed consent from the embryo donor be obtained, private information be protected, and the research proposal be examined by two levels or examination : the committee with in a facility where the research takes place and the national government. However, the Human Embryo Subcommittee could not agree on issues of possible commercial uses of the research results and patents. Regulations regarding these issues were not proposed. After this proposal was formally made known to relevant researchers and research facilities, research proposals have been submitted by them. In the United States, it was agreed that reaching a nationwide consensus on the issue of the hES-cell research would be impossible. The federal government instead took the stance that the federal government should show its support or abstention through funding. The National Institute of Health recently formulated the guidelines, the National Institute of Health Guidelines for Research Using Human Pluriopotent Stem Cells, August 25 th, 2000. According to the guidelines, the federal financial support is allowed for research using pre-established hES-cells. However, a consensus still has not been reached. This is a translation of a series of papers published in the Hastings Center Report Vol. 29, No. 2, 1999. The papers were included as a report of a symposium, in which some members of the Gerron Ethics Advisory Board participated, "Symposium : Human Primordial Stem Cells." It is the translator's hope that this translation will be used toward furthering the discussion on the issue of human embryonic research in Japan., Article, 紀要 26: 55-74(2001)}, pages = {55--74}, title = {ヒト胚研究の倫理}, volume = {26}, year = {2001} }