EU Governance of Embryo Research: The Interplay between Scientific and Ethical Expertise

The paper studies the different ways of framing (bio)ethical expertise in the EU governance of hESCR. It focuses on the interplay between different kinds of arguments such as ethics, science, politics and the economy. Two kinds of experts are involved in these framing practices: the European Group on Ethics – a technical-look-like expert – and faith-based organizations – so-called experts in humanity. The question is: “Do their different nature and function necessarily lead them to frame hESCR and (bio)ethical expertise in different ways?” The paper relies on a discourse analysis (official documents, policy papers and semi-structured interviews) of the frames developed by the EGE and five European faith-based organizations (COMECE, EDW, CEC, the Romanian Orthodox Church and EHF). The empirical results show that both kinds of actors use a mixed rhetorical framework. None has the monopoly on scientific or ethical claims.