Therapeutic Cloning, Regulatory Regimes, and the "Calculus of Consent" in the EU

What factors affect European's decisions to support or oppose the development of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research? This study tests the validity of three major hypotheses from the biotechnology literature more generally: the 'risk assessment discourse,' 'institutional,' and 'information' hypotheses.  The data informing the ordered logit analysis are the responses of Europeans to a 2005 Eurobarometer survey on biotechnology.  Based on prior research on public opinion in biotechnology more generally, we expect our analysis to finds support for all three hypotheses.  Specifically, analysis is likely to show that religiosity, the moral status of the fetus, and institutional trust in the European Union (EU) and national hESC regulatory systems were key determinants of Europeans' attitudes. We also untangle the 'information' hypothesis and expect that domain-specific information is stronger than chronic information in determining attitude formation, and that "hard" domain-specific information is stronger than self-reported "soft" domain-specific information in fostering attitude consistency and support for stem cell research. These findings have implications for both practice and theory building.