ABSTRACT
In the United States, biomedical topics such as stem cell research and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis generate media coverage and controversy. Such issues can be placed within the highly salient frame of the abortion issue, ensuring that legislators and a large segment of the public will engage with them. However, despite the establishment of national biobanks in many European countries, the United States only recently initiated public consideration of whether or not it needs a large-scale, prospective national cohort for the study of the relationship between genes, disease and the environment. This chapter analyzes this initial discussion (2004–6), with specific reference to the political and institutional variables that impede the construction of an effective governance regime for a national biobank in the United States.
