Past Trends in Decisions and Conditioning Factors

This chapter offers a comprehensive look at every applicable law and legal decision as it relates to embryonic stem cells. This part contains specific laws that are discussed as well as court decisions that either relate directly to or have a substantial impact over embryonic stem cell laws. The first set of laws and decisions to be discussed are those that are considered “universal instruments” such as multi-lateral treaties agreed to by various nations, where any nation can be a party to, followed by regional instruments, or treaties that are applicable to a smaller group in comparison to the universal instruments. This is followed by an exhaustive look into the unique laws and decisions of various nations and the reasons that went into their creation or adoption. The next part is a review on United States federal law and decisions in relation to this area of science and breaks down the timing of each major change in relation to the president that was in charge at the time. One will also find an overview of the positions of the major health and research organizations operating in the United States. Finally, there are state specific laws and holdings are discussed and broken down into two categories, those that have pro-embryonic stem cell research laws and those that have anti-embryonic stem cell research laws.