ABSTRACT
Stem cells are scientific objects but they are also cultural and social objects. In an era of enhanced capitalization of biological products and even life itself, stem cell research also seemed to carry nearly infinite economic potential. In the United States, two legal decisions in particular changed the economic landscape of the biosciences, generating in new forms of biological value and capitalization. The question of the human embryo was, of course, not the only ethical question. Assumptions of a global morality are often in play as consideration of the human embryo is written into presumably global guidelines and regulations, such as those of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. Even as stem cell research is a global–or at least transnational–enterprise, it is practiced everywhere in local settings. In Taiwan, stem cell research is a component of a larger government strategy of biotech promotion.
