Regulating human embryonic stem cell (HESC) research in Australia : Brownsword’s regulatory challenges

Human embryonic stem cell (HESC) research is a controversial research as the paramount concern is that all extraction of stem cells from an embryo involves its destruction. Therefore, it is often argued that this research should be stringently regulated. However, in regulating emerging technologies, there are various challenges that regulators may encounter. Professor Roger Brownsword, an expert in issues of technology, ethics and law, identifies the main challenges of regulating innovative technologies as follows: the challenge of achieving regulatory legitimacy, attaining regulatory effectiveness and maintaining the regulatory connection. This article evaluates Australia’s current regulatory regime for use of human embryos in research to determine whether it addresses these regulatory challenges and it also considers effective measures that could be adopted by regulators to counter the difficulties.