ll fraction (6 percent at each pole) of the public occupying the extreme positions that so frequently characterize the public and policy debate. Fully half expressed agreement both with statements that placed high priority on protecting human embryos and with statements that placed high priority on searching for medical cures through ESC research. When asked in a single item which was more important, 60 percent selected ESC research and 37 percent selected not destroying embryos.

While the moral status of human embryos has been the centerpiece of the political debate about ESC research, often articulated as an all-or-nothing proposition that is fully predictive of all of an individual's other views on embryonic stem cell research, the public's views about the moral status of embryos and the relationship of those views to ESC research policy preferences has not been fully explored. The survey showed that nearly the same number of Americans believe that an embryo in a Petri dish has no or low moral status (30 percent) or maximum moral status (28 percent). The remainder (42 percent) accord embryos some intermediate moral status.

A third of those who believe an embryo in a Petri dish has maximum moral status nonetheless approve of ESC research. Similarly, a third support ESC research policies more permissive than the current policy and which involve funding for research using new ESCs.

In a parallel fashion, 17 percent of those who accord an embryo in a Petri dish no or low moral status nevertheless disapprove of ESC research and support the current ESC policy or an all-out ban (22 percent). Thus, even for a sizeable number of respondents who fall at the polar ends of the moral status continuum, the commonly held expectation that they will support the corresponding policy extreme does not hold true.

'"/>

Contact: Rick Borchelt
rborche1@jhu.edu
202-663-5978
Genetics & Public Policy Center, Johns Hopkins University
13-Oct-2005

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