1. Stem Cell Tourism Phenomenon in China: An Introduction

See Stephen R Crespi, ‘the human embryo and patent law-a major challenge ahead?’ (2006) 28 European Intellectual Property Review 569–575 (stating that beginning with the once controversial issue of micro-organism patenting, the debate soon extended into the sphere of higher life forms, including cell-lines, plants and animals.); see also Amanda Warren Jones, ‘Finding a common morality codex for biotech-a question of substance’ (2008) 6 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 638; see also Aurora Plomer and Paul Torremans, Embryonic stem cell patents: European patent law and ethics.

See, for example, one immediate possible application of HESC would be strategies to quickly screen hundreds of thousands of chemicals for effective medicines. By measuring how pure populations of specifically differentiated cell respond to potential drugs, it would be possible to sort out those that may be both useful and problematic in human medicine, University of Wisconsin Stemcell & Regenerative Medicine Center, http://​www.​news.​wisc.​edu/​packages/​stemcells/​3327.​html accessed October 28 2015; also see, for example, the Japanese authorities tried to harvest stem cells from the bone marrow of workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and transplant them into their bodies for the purpose of repairing the damage caused by high dose radiation, Meredith Melnick 2011. Could stem cell transplants help the Japanese Nuclear Workers?’ The Time, March 31 http://​healthland.​time.​com/​2011/​03/​31/​could-stem-cell-transplants-help-japanese-nuclear-workers/​ accessed October 28 2015.

See, for example, at the Cancer Treatment Centres of America (CTCA), HESCs have already been used in curing cancer diseases. the Cancer Treatment Centers of America available at http://​www.​cancercenter.​com/​stem-cells.​htm accessed October 28 2013; also see for example, the researcher Igor Slukvin at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was the first to successfully reprogram blood cells obtained from a patient with leukaemia, which means the diseased cells are capable of turning back into pluripotent stem cells. This is important because it provides a new model for the study of cancer cells, http://​newsroom.​stemcells.​wisc.​edu/​18933 accessed October 28 2015.

In fiscal 2010, National Institute of Health (government funding) spent approximately $200 million to fund more than 200 human embryo research grants, http://​www.​bloomberg.​com/​news/​2011-04-29/​stem-cell-research-funding-can-continue-during-legal-case-u-s-court-says.​html accessed April 4 2015.

Terry Devitt, ‘Wisconsin scientists culture elusive embryonic stem cells’ 6 November 1998 (examining that a team of scientists from UW-Madison report the successful derivation and prolonged culture of HESCs-cells that are the parent cells of all tissues in the body; commenting that the achievement has profound implications for transplant medicine, drug discovery and basic developmental biology)) http://​www.​news.​wisc.​edu/​3327 accessed July 14 2015.

University of Wisconsin Stemcell & Regenerative Medicine Center http://​www.​news.​wisc.​edu/​packages/​stemcells/​3327.​html accessed October 28 2015.

Meredith Melnich, ‘could stem cell transplants help the Japanese Nuclear Workers?’ The Time (London, 31 March 2011) http://​healthland.​time.​com/​2011/​03/​31/​could-stem-cell-transplants-help-japanese-nuclear-workers/​ accessed October 28 2015.

See Peter Drahos, ‘Biotechnology patents, markets and morality’ (1999) 21 European Intellectual Property Review 441 (pointing out some areas of law invite adjudicators to draw on morality in the process of legal decision-making. Somewhat surprisingly, given its characterization as a tool of economic regulation, patent law does just this. The express connection between patent law and morality is hardly new.).

ibid.

Peter Loser, Jaqueline Schirm, Anke Guhr, Anna M Wobus and Andreas Kurtz, ‘HESC lines and their use in international research’ (2010) 28 Stem Cells 240.

Science and Engineering indicators 2010, published by the National Science Board, http://​www.​nsf.​gov/​statistics/​seind10/​start.​htm accessed 1 July, 2012.

Lou et al. (2011).

See Catherine Waldby and Brian Salter, ‘Global Governance in HESC Science’ (2008) 2 studies in Ethics, law and Technology 1–23. (stating that standardisation is very important in science because it creates the conditions for stable comparison and the interoperability of technical elements and it is a central process of all scientific practice and one of the major demarcators of scientific from non-scientific knowledge).

Human stem cell research and regenerative medicine, a European perspective on Scientific, Ethic and Legal issue. 2010 Science Policy briefing; see also Outi Hovatta, Miodrag Stojkovic, Maria Nogueira and Isabel Varela Nieto, ‘European Scientific Ethical and legal Issues on Human Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine’ (2010) 28 Stem Cells 1005–1007.

See, e.g. the second Initiative, ISCI2, that will focus on comparing the performance of different media for the culture of HESCs, and assessing the types of genetic change that accumulate in HESCs upon prolonged passage, http://​www.​rcuk.​ac.​uk/​OfficeintheuS/​casestudies/​Pages/​StemCellForum.​aspx accessed online October 28 2015.

B D Colen, ‘Stem cell tourism growing trend’ (2012) Harvard gazette, November 30 http://​news.​harvard.​edu/​gazette/​story/​2012/​11/​the-rise-of-stem-cell-tourism/​ accessed January 2 2015. (Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of desperate people are clocking to clinics that charge tens of thousands of dollars for every unproven treatment. The stem cell tourism phenomenon hurts the legitimacy of the entire field of stem cell science and medicine)

Sorapop Kiatpongsan and Douglas Sipp, ‘Monitoring and regulating offshore stem cell clinics’ (2009) 323 Science 1564.

See Human stem cell research and regenerative medicine, a European perspective on Scientific, Ethic and Legal issue.2010. Science Policy briefing, http://​www.​esf.​org/​publications/​science-policy-briefings.​html accessed October 28 2015.

The human rights to equal access for all persons to productive resources, including land, credit and technology.

Wahlberg et al. (2013).

C J Murdoch, ‘intraoperability problems: inconsistent stem cell IP and Research regimes within nations’ (2011) 3 Stanford Journal of Law Science & Policy 49–55.

Aurora Plomer, ‘stem cell patents in a global economy: the legal challenges’ (2010) 3 Stanford Journal of Law, Science and Policy 5.

ibid.

ibid.

Plomer (2002).

Timothy Caulfield, Amy Zarzeczny, Jennifer McCormick, Tania Bubela, Christine Critchley, Edna Einsiedel, Jacques Galipear, Shawn Harmon, Michael Huynh, Insoo Hyun, Judy IIIes, Rosario Isasi, Yann Joly, Graeme Laurie, Geoff Lomax, Holly Longstaff, Michael McDonald, Charles Murdoch, Ubaka Ogbofu, Jason Owen Smith, Shaun Pattinson, Shainur Premji,Barbara von Tigerstrom and David E Winickoff, ‘the stem cell research environment: a patchwork of patchwork’ (2009) 5 Stem cell Rev and Rep 82.

ibid.

Waldby (2006).

Moufang (1994).

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

ibid.

Rajarshi Sen and Adarsh Ramanujan, ‘Pruning the Evergreen Tree or Tripping Up over TRIPS?-Section 3(d) of the Indian Patents’ (2010) 41 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 170–186.

Timothy G Ackermann, ‘Dis’ordre’ly Loopholes: TRIPS Patent Protection, GATT and the ECJ’ (1997) 32 TEXAS International Law Journal 489.

ibid.

Kenneth C Cheney, ‘Patentability of Stem Cell Research under TRIPS: can Morality-Based Exclusions be Better Defined by Emerging Customary International Law’ (2007) 29 Loyola Angeles International and Comparative Law Journal 503.

Enrico Bonadio, ‘Biotech Patents and Morality after Brustle’ (2012) 34 European Intellectual Property Review 433–443.

Jane Qiu, ‘China Clamps Down on Controversial Therapies’ (2009) 373 World Report 1834–1835.

Lianming Liao and Robert Chunhua Zhao, ‘an overview of stem cell based clinical trials in China’ (2008) 17 Stem Cells and Development 613–618.

Doring Ole, ‘Chinese researchers promote biomedical regulations: what are the motives of the Biopolitical Daw in China and where are they heading?’ (2004) 14 Kennedy Institution Ethics Journal 39–42 (commenting that the positivistic principle “if an action is not illegal, by definition, it is legal” does not apply in China. Taking advantage of the fact that policymaking lags behind scientific and economic development, in terms of the entire legal and social infrastructure, amounts to biomedical adventurism.).

The Warnock Report by Human Fertilization and Embryology Authorities, 1984, available at http://​www.​hfea.​gov.​uk/​2068.​html (discussing two extreme views, one is from religious persons of Catholic Church who believe human embryo has human status, and another is from utilitarians who insist human embryo has no moral status.); also see Aurora Plomer, ‘Beyond the HFE Act 1990:the regulation of stem cell research in the UK’ (2002) 10 Medical Law Review 132–144 (stating that The UK currently stands alone in Europe in permitting the creation of human embryos specifically for research purposes, including the use of cloning techniques.).

See Graeme Laurie, ‘Patenting stem cells of human origin’ (2004) 26 European Intellectual Property Review 59 (stating that despite the fact that disquiet and discussions of an ethic nature held up the adoption of the biotechnology Directive for so long, it is far from clear that we are any further forward in developing uniform, logical, principled and defensible ethical Guideline within European patent law); see also Amanda Warren Jones, ‘A Mouse in Sheep’s Clothing: The Challenge to the Patent Moraility Criterion Posed by “Dolly”’ (1998) 20 European Intellectual Property Review 450; See also Amanda Odell West, ‘The absence of informed consent to commercial exploitation for inventions developed from human biological material: A bar to patentability?’(2009) 3 Intellectual Property Quarterly 390.

Since 2007, the EUROPE had funded 27 collaborative health research projects involving the use of HESCs with an EUROPE contribution of about €157 millioin. HESC research projects represent approximately one third of health projects on all forms of stem cells. In addition, the European Research Council had funded 10 projects for an EUROPE financial contribution of about €19 million and there have been 24 Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions involving HESC research worth €23 million Europa.​Europe/​rapid/​press-release_​MEMO-14-385_​en.​doc accessed June 25 2013.

Title 35 of the United States Code.

Gabriel S Gross, ‘Federally funding HESC research: an administrative analysis’ (2000) Wisconsin Law Review 855–884.

ibid.

Report of the US national Bioethics Advisory Committee, Ethical Issues on Human Stem Cell Research, September 13 1999.

See biology online http://​www.​biology-online.​org/​dictionary/​Embryo accessed September 21 2014.

ibid.

Encyclopaedia Britannica http://​www.​britannica.​com/​EBchecked/​topic/​185610/​embryo accessed September 21 2015.

See http://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Human_​embryogenesis accessed June 30 2013.

ibid.

ibid.

ibid.

http://​stemcells.​nih.​gov/​info/​scireport/​pages/​chapter3.​aspx accessed June 30 2015.

ibid.

See stem cell research report, stem cell research committee publications, 2001, http://​www.​publications.​parliament.​uk/​pa/​ld/​ldstem.​htm accessed June 7 2015.

The national bioethics advisory commission, ethical issue in human stem cell research 9 (1999) https://​bioethicsarchive​.​georgetown.​edu/​nbac/​pubs.​html accessed December 3 2015.

See is human reproductive cloning inevitable: Future options for UN governance, the United Nation, October 2007 http://​www.​ias.​unu.​edu/​sub_​page.​aspx?​catID=​111&​ddlID=​588 accessed June 8 2015.

Ibid.

Regina v Secretary of state for health, house of lords http://​www.​publications.​parliament.​uk/​pa/​ld200203/​ldjudgmt/​jd030313/​quinta-2.​htm accessed June 8 2015.

http://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Somatic_​cell_​nuclear_​transfer accessed June 30 2015.

McNeish John, ‘Embryonic stem cells in drug discovery’ (2004) 3 Nature. Review Drug Discovery 70–80.

Kristina Hug, ‘Therapeutic perspectives of HESC research versus the moral status of a human embryo-does one have to be compromised for the other?’ (2006) 42 Medicina Kaunas 107–114.

ibid.

H R Scholer, ‘The potential of Stem Cells: an inventory’ (2004) 47 natural science review 565–577.

ibid.

ibid.

ibid.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Technology Used to Generate Hepatocytes From Skin Cells, 20 October 2009 http://​www.​genengnews.​com/​gen-news-highlights/​induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-technology-used-to-generate-hepatocytes-from-skin-cells/​65932826 accessed June 30 2015.

Stem cells: a new path to pluripotent, 451 Nature 858, 13 February 2008 http://​www.​nature.​com/​nature/​journal/​v451/​n7180/​full/​451858a.​html accessed June 30 2015.

Walters Leroy, ‘HESC research: an intercultural perspective’ (2004) 14 Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 3–38.

ibid.

ibid.

Heidi Mertes and Guido Pennings, ‘Oocyte donation for stem cell research’ (2007) 22 Human Reproducation 629–634.

Rick Weiss, ‘cloning yields human-rabit hybrid embryo’ (2003) the Washington Post, 13 August http://​www.​washingtonpost.​com/​ac2/​wp-dyn/​A55911-2003Aug13?​language=​printer14aug03 accessed June 21 2015.

ibid.

Gudrun Schultz, ‘UK Government Proposals Approve Human/Animal Embryo Hybrids’, Life Site News, 12 December 2006 http://​www.​lifenews.​com/​idn/​2006/​dec/​06121205.​html accessed June 30 2015.

Human animal embryo green light, 5 September 2007 http://​news.​bbc.​co.​uk/​1/​hi/​health/​6978384.​stm accessed June 30 2015.

see MPs vote against ban on bybrid embryos, 19 May 2008, http://​www.​independent.​co.​uk/​news/​uk/​politics/​mps-vote-against-ban-on-hybrid-embryos-830969.​html accessed June 30 2015.

Bioethics: human animal hybrid embryos, http://​www.​bbc.​co.​uk/​ethics/​animals/​using/​hybridembryos_​1.​shtml accessed June 30 2015.

See animal contains human material, report of the Academy of Medical Science, 22 July 2011 http://​www.​acmedsci.​ac.​uk/​p118pressid83.​html accessed June 30 2015.

Jahanara Parveen, ‘stem cells, the future therapy’, Bio Spectrum, 10 March 2009 http://​www.​biospectrumindia​.​com/​biospecindia/​news/​157607/​stem-cells-future-therapy accessed June 30 2015.

David M Gilbert, ‘The future of HESC research: addressing ethical conflict with responsible scientific research’ (2004) 61 Medical Science Monit 99–103.

Kathy Hudson, ‘New international society for stem cell research guideline skirt issue of egg donor compensation’, Genetics & Public Policy center, 1 February 2007 http://​www.​dnapolicy.​org/​news.​release.​php?​action=​detail&​pressrelease_​id=​70 accessed June 30 2015.

See the Cancer Treatment Centers of America http://​www.​cancercenter.​com/​stem-cells.​htm accessed 28 October 2015.

Terry Devitt, ‘new induced stem cells may unmask cancer at earlier stage, 4 Feb 2011 http://​newsroom.​stemcells.​wisc.​edu/​18933 accessed October 28 2015.

Paul and George (2005).

Steve Connor, ‘British scientists to create synthetic blood’ The Independent (London 23 March 2009) http://​www.​independent.​co.​uk/​news/​science/​british-scientists-to-create-synthetic-blood-1651715.​html accessed October 28 2015.

Amy Adams, ‘Neural stem cells helped repair stroke damage in rats’ brains’ (2003) Stanford Medical Center report http://​med.​stanford.​edu/​mcr/​2008/​stroke-stem-0220.​html accessed October 28 2015.

Zhang et al. (2008).

See Remarks of President Barack Obama-as Prepared for Delivery Signing of Stem Cell Executive Order and Scientific Intergrity Presidential Memorandum, Washington DC, 9 March 009, http://​www.​whitehouse.​gov/​the_​press_​office/​Remarks-of-the-President-As-Prepared-for-Delivery-Signing-of-Stem-Cell-Executive-Order-and-Scientific-Integrity-Presidential-Memorandum/​ accessed October 28 2015.