To Restore Faith and Trust: Justice and Biological Access to Cellular Therapies‪.‬

Due to a coincidence of demographic and biological factors, the therapeutic benefits of stem cell science may turn out to benefit some ethnic groups more than others. Most of the cells used in the clinic will probably be derived from lines of cells maintained in stem cell banks, (1) but these lines will work better for some than for others, and a real possibility exists that minority ethnic groups will be underserved--again. Even though these biodemographic disparities do not arise from racist policies, they may exacerbate the effects of racial injustice wherever a population predominantly of European descent has discriminated unjustly against minority ethnic groups, as in the United States and Canada, much of Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. These disparities of access raise important questions of justice that demand an appropriate policy response. One prominent group of scholars, organized by the Program in Cell Engineering, Ethics and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University, has recommended redressing any disparities by weighting the selection of banked stem cells to achieve ancestral/ ethnic balance. (2) I was a dissenting member of that group. In this paper I will argue that a better policy response reconceives what seems only to be a problem as an opportunity to do a much-needed good. I begin with a brief explanation of the biological and demographic root of the issue.