Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creating Donors: The 2005 Swiss Law on Donation of ‘Spare’ Embryos to hESC Research

  • Published:
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In November 2004, the Swiss population voted to accept a law on research using human embryonic stem cells. In this paper, we use Switzerland as a case study of the shaping of the ostensibly ethical debate on the use of embryos in embryonic stem cell research by legal, political and social constraints. We describe how the national and international context affected the content and wording of the law. We discuss the consequences of the revised law's separation of stem cell research from other forms of embryo research, its definitions of embryo and of spare embryos, and the introduction of donorship into the Swiss ethical debate on IVF. We focus on the exclusion of the potential embryo donors' voices and perspectives from the debate, and consider the effects of this exclusion on ethical discourse and the political process.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The following abbreviations are used for the laws referred to in this paper:

    • LRM, Federal law on reproductive medicine (Bundesgesetz über die medizinisch unterstützte Fortpflanzung, or Fortpflanzungsmedizingesetz, official abbreviation FMedG)

    • LER, Federal law on research on spare embryos and embryonic stem cells (Bundesgesetz über die Forschung an überzähligen Embryonen und embryonalen Stammzellen, official abbreviation EFG)

    • LSCR, Federal law on research with embryonic stem cells (Bundesgesetz über die Forschung an embryonalen Stammzellen, official abbreviation StFG).

  2. ‘Knock-out’ mice have specific gene sequences removed, so that their normal function can be deduced by whatever goes wrong in the mice lacking the sequences. In parthenogenesis an unfertilized egg is stimulated to undergo further development. In somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) the nucleus of a somatic cell (i.e., not an egg or sperm) is used to replace the nucleus of an unfertilized egg cell. Chimera are organisms composed of genetically distinct tissues, e.g., if cells from one embryo are mixed with those of another.

References

  1. Bangsboll, S., Pinborg, A., Andersen, C. Y., & Andersen, A. N. (2004). Patients' attitudes towards donation of surplus cryopreserved embryos for treatment or research. Human Reproduction, 19, 2415–2419.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Becker, G. (2000). The elusive embryo. How women and men approach new reproductive technologies. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Borry, P., Schotsmans, P., & Dierickx, K. (2004). What is the role of empirical research in bioethical reflection and decision-making? Medicine Healthcare and Philosophy, 7, 41–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Botschaft des Bundesrates zum Bundesgesetz über die Forschung an überzähligen Embryonen und embryonalen Stammzellen (Explanatory report by the Federal Council on the Federal law on research using spare embryos and embryonic stem cells), section 1.4.3.1.2. Bundesblatt 2003 1163. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c810_31.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  5. Botschaft des Bundesrates zum Bundesgesetz über die Forschung an überzähligen Embryonen und embryonalen Stammzellen (Explanatory report by the Federal Council on the Federal law on research using spare embryos and embryonic stem cells), section 1.2.3.2.2. Bundesblatt 2003 1163. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c810_31.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  6. Botschaft des Bundesrates zum Bundesgesetz über die Forschung an überzähligen Embryonen und embryonalen Stammzellen (Explanatory report by the Federal Council on the Federal law on research using spare embryos and embryonic stem cells), section 1.6.1.1. Bundesblatt 2003 1163. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c810_31.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  7. Botschaft des Bundesrates zum Bundesgesetz über die Forschung an überzähligen Embryonen und embryonalen Stammzellen (Explanatory report by the Federal Council on the Federal law on research using spare embryos and embryonic stem cells), section 1.4.2.2.2. Bundesblatt 2003 1163. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c810_31.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  8. Botschaft des Bundesrates zum Bundesgesetz von 18. Dezember 1998 über die medizinische unterstützte Fortpflanzung (Explanatory report by the Federal Council on the Federal law on reproductive medicine), cited in the Botschaft LER sections 1.4.2.1.2 and 1.4.3.1.3. Bundesblatt 2003 1163. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/c810_31.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  9. Breidbach, O., Weingarten, M., (Eds.), (2000). Theory in Biosciences 119, special edition.

  10. Bundesamt für Gesundheit. Anzahl überzähliger Embryonen. Press release, Apr 14 2003. Available from http://www.bag.admin.ch/dienste/medien/2003/d/03041414.htm (accessed 13.2.2004).

  11. Bundesgesetz von 18. Dezember 1998 über die medizinische unterstützte Fortpflanzung (Fortpflanzungsmedizingesetz, FMedG; Federal law on reproductive medicine), Art 17 para 1 and para 3. SR 810.11. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/gg/cr/2000/20001938.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  12. Bundesgesetz von 18. Dezember 1998 über die medizinische unterstützte Fortpflanzung (Fortpflanzungsmedizingesetz, FMedG; Federal law on reproductive medicine), Art 16 1 and Art 29. SR 810.11. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/gg/cr/2000/20001938.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  13. Bundesgesetz von 18. Dezember 1998 über die medizinische unterstützte Fortpflanzung (Fortpflanzungsmedizingesetz, FMedG; Federal law on reproductive medicine), Art 16 4. SR 810.11. Available from http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/gg/cr/2000/20001938.html (accessed 8.5.2005).

  14. Burton, P. J., & Sanders, K. (2004). Patient attitudes to donation of embryos for research in Western Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 180, 559–561.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Center for Genetics and Society (2002). Opinions about reproductive cloning [survey]. Available from http://www.genetics-and-society.org/analysis/opinion (accessed 18.8.2005).

  16. Dickenson, D. L. (2001). Property and women's alienation from their own reproductive labour. Bioethics, 15, 205–217.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dickenson, D. L. (2002). Commodification of human tissue: Implications for feminist and development ethics. Developing World Bioethics, 2, 55–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Frey, O. (2002). Her mit den Embryonen. FACTS, pp. 87–92, Mar 14.

  19. Frey, O. (2002). Her mit den Embryonen. FACTS, p. 89 Mar 14.

  20. Frey, O. (2002). Her mit den Embryonen. FACTS, p. 91, Mar 14.

  21. Für die Forschung brauchen wir grossen Grosszügigkeit und Freiheit. (2002). Interview with Minister Ruth Dreifuss. Basler Zeitung, p. 3, Feb 15.

  22. Gómez-Lobo, A. (2004) Does respect for embryos entail respect for gametes? Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 25, 199–208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Hacking, I. (1986). Making up people. In: T. C. Heller (Ed.), Reconstructing individualism: Autonomy, individuality and the self in western thought (pp. 222–236). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Hacking, I. (1995). Rewriting the soul. Multiple personality and the sciences of memory. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Haimes, E. (2002). What can the social sciences contribute to the study of ethics? Bioethics, 16, 89–113.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Holland, S. (2001). Contested commodities at both ends of life: buying and selling gametes, embryos, and body tissues. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 11, 263–284.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. S. Holm, & M. Jonas (Ed.), (2004). Engaging the world. The use of empirical research in bioethics and the regulation of biotechnology. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

  28. M. Kettner, (Ed.), (2004). Biomedizin und Menschenwürde. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

  29. Klock, S. C. (2004). Embryo disposition: The forgotten ‘child’ of in vitro fertilization. International Journal of Fertility & Women's Medicine, 49, 19–23.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Lahrtz, S. (2002). Umstrittene Stammzellenforschung. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, p. 11, Jan 29.

  31. Mahowald, M. (2005). Respect for embryos and the potentiality argument. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 25, 105–113.

    Google Scholar 

  32. McMahon, C. A., Gibson, F. L., Leslie, G. I., Saunders, D. M., Porter, K. A., & Tennant, C. C. (2003). Embryo donation for medical research: Attitudes and concerns of potential donors. Human Reproduction, 18, 871–877.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Nationale Ethikkommission im Bereich Humanmedizin NEK-CNE (2002). Stellungnahme 3/2002: Ethische Aspekte zum Embryonenforschungsgesetz – 6 Punkte für die parlamentarische Diskussion vom 15. Januar 2003. Available from http://www.nek-cne.ch (accessed 1.5.2005).

  34. Nationale Ethikkommission im Bereich Humanmedizin NEK-CNE (2001). Forschung an importierten embryonalen Stammzellen. Stellungnahme 1/2001. Available from http://www.nek-cne.ch (accessed 1.5.2005).

  35. Neumann-Held, E., & Rehmann-Sutter, C. (2005). Genes in development: Re-reading the molecular paradigm. Durham: Duke Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Oyama, S., Griffiths, P. E., & Gray, R. D. (2001). Cycles of contingency: Developmental systems and evolution. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Rehmann-Sutter, C. (2002). Genetics, embodiment and identity. In: A. Grunwald, M. Gutmann, E. M., & Neumann-Held (Eds.), On human nature (pp. 23–50). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Scully, J. L., Rippberger, C., & Rehmann-Sutter, C. (2003). Additional ethical issues in genetic medicine perceived by the potential patients. In: B. M. Knoppers (Ed.), Populations and genetics: legal and socio-ethical perspectives (pp. 623–638). Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Scully, J. L., Rippberger, C., & Rehmann-Sutter, C. (2004). Non-professionals' evaluations of gene therapy ethics. Social Science & Medicine, 58, 1415–1425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Scully, J. L. (2003). Gentherapie aus Patientensicht. In: C. Rehmann-Sutter, & H.-J. Müller (Eds.), Ethik und Gentherapie (pp. 207–224). Tübingen: Francke Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  41. SGCI (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie) [homepage on the Internet]. Contribution to gross domestic product [1 screen]. Available from http://www.sgci.ch/plugin/template/sgci/*/9916 (accessed 15.9.2005).

  42. Sugarman, J., Faden, R., & Weinstein, J. (2001). A decade of empirical research in medical ethics. In: J. Sugarman, & D. Sulmasy (Eds.), Methods in medical ethics (pp. 19–28). Washington, District of Columbia: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Sugarman, J. (2004). The future of empirical research in bioethics. Journal of Law and Medical Ethics, 32, 226–231, 190.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Wachter, T. (2002). Am Leben vorbei. FACTS, pp. 82–84, Aug 22.

  45. Walker, M. U. (1998). Moral understandings. A feminist study in ethics. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

The work described in this paper was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation project grant number 101511-105664/1, Ethical decisions about the fates of embryos: the views and approaches of couples undergoing IVF.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit for Ethics in the Biosciences, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 20, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Jackie Leach Scully & Christoph Rehmann-Sutter

Authors
  1. Jackie Leach Scully
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christoph Rehmann-Sutter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jackie Leach Scully.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Scully, J.L., Rehmann-Sutter, C. Creating Donors: The 2005 Swiss Law on Donation of ‘Spare’ Embryos to hESC Research. Bioethical Inquiry 3, 81–93 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-006-9006-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-006-9006-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation