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In Tasmania, a state in Australia, extended negotiations regarding the investment of tens of millions of dollars in a teleinformatics center at the University of Tasmania recently came to an abrupt end when representatives of the university refused to accept limits on their right to use the proposed technology for purposes of embryonic stem cell research.

You can read about this incident by clicking on the titles of these articles dealing with it:

"Stem-cell issue costs uni a $20m IT grant"

"IT centre falls through again"

The office of Australian Senator Brian Harradine, a central figure in this dispute, has provided Etopia Media's Stem Cell World with the following statement regarding the issues involved:

"The Intelligent Island Board (IIB) made detailed decisions on how the Tasinformatics Centre should proceed. This included a key ethics document agreed in October 2003 which specified that the Centre should adhere to the highest ethical standards – higher than the minimum levels set out by state or national bodies – to ensure the continued confidence of the Tasmanian community.

"The ethics safeguards include ensuring that the interests of individual research subjects take precedence over research interests and that the Centre is committed to an open relationship with the Tasmanian community which will be kept informed at all times about the nature of the research being conducted and the ethical principles being applied.

"Senator Harradine was a member of the Intelligent Island Board. The IIB held its last meeting in April 2004 and was dissolved two months later.

"In early 2004 Senator Harradine (as a member of the IIB and as the person who negotiated the money from the Federal Government) and a number of other parties were asked to comment on the draft Tasinformatics agreement.

"Senator Harradine pointed out that the full intent of the IIB decisions on how Tasinformatics should proceed had not been incorporated in the documents.

"One of the key ethical safeguards was that the Tasinformatics Centre not be involved in any research involving products, tissue or data sourced from human embryos or from any other source about which there is a significant polarisation of community opinion.

"These omissions led to a series of productive meetings and exchanges of correspondence.

"The last meeting of the working group was held on 30 September 2004. The group included representatives of the University of Tasmania. At the meeting significant progress was made and there was substantial agreement achieved.

"One of the key clauses agreed at the 30 September meeting was Deed clause 3.2(b): “the Centre will not conduct, sponsor or promote any research involving products or tissue sourced from human embryos in such a way as to destroy or to cause harm to an embryo or to use tissue or data from any such source with the exception of data that is in the public domain.”

"The University of Tasmania subsequently decided against the agreed text and withdrew from negotiations.

"The matter has now gone to the Communications Minister, Senator Helen Coonan, for her to resolve. In an effort to reach an agreement with the University of Tasmania, Senator Harradine agreed to a number of concessions proposed by Senator Coonan.

"Senator Harradine has been assured that the $20 million will stay in Tasmania and that, if the University of Tasmania does not accept the Federal Government's conditions, options include contracting an alternate research institution to run the Tasinformatics Centre in Tasmania."

In reaction to the end of talks on this matter, Member of the (Australian) House of Assembly and Tasmanian Minister for Arts, Minister for Economic Development, and Minister for Employment Lara Giddings issued a statement entitled "Tasinformatics falls but $20million must remain."

This dust-up in Tasmania was not the only embryonic stem cell-related political dispute taking place in Australia.

In 2002, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed on a three-year moratorium on research use of "excess" embryos derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been unable to reach an agreement with the Australian states for a one-year extension of this moratorium, and so has abandoned his plan for such an extension.

This means that embryonic stem cell research can now be conducted in Australia on embryos created after April 5, 2002.

Ronald Boswell, Australian Senator for Queensland, the leader of the Nationals in the Australian Parliament, and a strong opponent of embryonic stem cell research, denounced the Prime Minister's decision and urged consideration of adult stem cell research in its place.

You can read about this dispute in Australia regarding one aspect of embryonic stem cell research by clicking on the titles of the articles below:

"No need for more stem cell embryos: MP"

"Democrats Support PM on Stem Cells.".

Meanwhile, as reported in the California Politics Today article entitled "Fears of "female human egg farming" grow, while local, national, and global battles over human cloning rage," U.S. Representatives Mike Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) and U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) have introduced the "The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005," which, according to an article published on April 14, 2005, on the FT.com web site of the Financial Times (U.K.) entitled "Support grows in US for expansion of stem cell research", "would allow federal funding of work on stem cells derived from embryos left over from fertility clinics, as long as the donors provide written consent."

While the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., and the Australian capital of Canberra are about 10,000 apart, they both seem to be experiencing similar political dislocations based on differing views by each city's resident politicians regarding the moral standing and proper disposition of embryos created through the Advanced Reproductive Technology (ART) of in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Medical science has created an issue with global impact, and now citizens and government officials around the globe will need to address it.