Eggs and Ethics: CIRM's Proposed Rules

Given the circumspection of our bureaucratic friends, the Korean egg affair may not even be mentioned at a key CIRM meeting on Thursday.

But the matter will still be lingering in the air, a little distasteful but impossible to ignore.

It is just the sort of issue that the panel -- the Scientific and Medical Standards Accountability Working Group – should confront explicitly and directly. In fact, it amounts to a case study for CIRM, albeit one that is a tad fuzzy. But the reality is that such matters are usually less than clear cut. Facts are elusive; memories become weak.

The accountability group consists of five patient advocate members of the Oversight Committee, nine scientists and clinicians "nationally recognized in the field of stem cell research," four medical ethicists and Robert Klein, chairman of the California stem cell agency.

At the meeting in San Francisco, the group is scheduled to consider rules that would prohibit any cash-for-egg programs involving CIRM. The proposed language states:

"No payments, cash or in-kind, have been provided for donating oocytes, gametes, blastocysts, or eggs. Individuals may be reimbursed for expenses incurred as a result of a clinical procedure, as determined by (a review group). Individuals who consent to donate stored gamets, blastocysts or eggs may not be reimbursed for the cost of storage prior to the decision to donate."

Missing from the agenda material posted on the Web is anything other than the technical language of the draft regulations, which are rather intimidatingly labelled "do not cite or quote." But never fear. If you discuss them, you are probably not going to be called before a grand jury a la the Karl Rove case.

Also up for consideration is a report from the task force on intellectual property, another complex and important issue. But there is no clue on CIRM's website concerning the contents of that report.

If CIRM truly desires to fulfill its promise of being responsive, it is going to have to do much better at providing background that is accessible to the public. It should examine the type of work done by the state legislative analyst as well as analyses prepared by legislative staffers in Sacramento. All of which is prepared in a timely fashion and generally available online.

The accountability group is co-chaired by Sherry Lansing, a former Hollywood movie executive and now a cancer patient advocate, and Bernard Lo of UC San Francisco, whose expertise is listed by CIRM as "biomedical ethics related to oocyte, embryo and stem cell research." You can see all of the members the group at this link.