Mixing Business with Stem Cells

The fierce debate over federal funding for research on stem cells has focused on some profound questions, such as what are the moral tradeoffs in destroying human embryos. A less-lofty factor, however, is also shaping the debate: the pecuniary interests of the physicians and scientists performing the research.

Scientists engaged in the public debate over how best to use stem cells for the betterment of human lives are often prominent faculty members at prestigious universities and public research institutions. But often as not, they are also board members and shareholders of fledgling biotechnology companies, which stand to make hefty profits from the research the scientists are urging the government to fund. They are, in short, both disinterested scientists and very interested entrepreneurs.

This potential for conflict of interest also fuels disputes between competing groups of scientists, says Dr. Ammon Peck, a stem-cell researcher at the University of Florida (Gainesville). "There is more politics in science," he said, "than there is in business or in politics."

Some of the private-sector advocates for federal stem-cell research on human embryos are open about...