ISSUE GUIDES: Medical Research
The Red Flags section offers guidance on areas of public opinion research where findings may be misleading, unstable, or easily misinterpreted. Public Agenda uses several indicators to judge when survey results should be reported and used cautiously.
Red Flag Statements
| Cloning | Limited Knowledge |
Surveys show most Americans are appalled by the idea of duplicating humans by cloning, but that may not be their final answer on all cloning, in all cases. There’s some evidence that much of the public makes a distinction between cloning an entire human being and cloning just the cells or organs needed for medical reasons. Even when surveys offer respondents various reasons for creating a human clone (such as helping infertile couples or to save the life of the person being cloned), none of the justifications persuades a majority of those surveyed (90 percent of whom oppose cloning). But questions that specifically suggest cloning only body parts or vital organs to treat diseases find as many as six in 10 people in favor. The public clearly has no taste for a Brave New World of “designer babies,” but neither does it wish to block treatments to relieve suffering. Most Americans haven’t paid close attention to the cloning debate. Nor has the average person had the personal experience with cloning that has shaped public attitudes on other bioethics issues, such as end-of-life care. As more and more people saw their own loved ones face lengthy terminal illnesses, the public truly wrestled with the moral quandaries of advanced medicine and assisted suicide. The average American hasn’t had that real-world, emotional experience with cloning – yet.
- Most Americans disapprove of cloning a human being but more than half say they approve of cloning to find treatments for...
- Most Americans say cloning individual organs and body parts is a good idea, but they are divided on growing organs in other...
- Most Americans say it is a bad idea to clone both humans and animals, but they are divided on whether cloning is morally wrong
- The vast majority of Americans say human cloning cannot be justified in most situations
Tags: Though Americans say they are very interested in new medical advances, they aren't always familiar with individual developments. Questions on specific issues can yield a higher-than-average number of "don't knows." Seven in ten Americans say they know little or nothing at all about genetic mapping, which has been heralded as a key medical breakthrough with significant implications for researchers, doctors and the general public, and many Americans say they are not sure about the impact of genetics on medicine. Survey researchers often consider a double-digit "don't know" response a warning sign that an issue may not be well understood and opinion may not be stable. Public attention to one complex issue, stem cell research, has increased substantially over the past few years. In 2001, when the debate first broke into the news, six in 10 Americans admitted they weren't following the issue closely. By 2005, 58 percent said they followed stem cell news at least "somewhat closely." While majorities say they support stem cell research, question wording can influence results, which suggests there is still some uncertainty on this question.
- Many Americans are not sure whether genetic research has improved medical treatments or whether researchers should...
- Most Americans say they are very interested in new medical discoveries
- Most Americans say they have heard little about genetic mapping
- Six in 10 Americans support stem cell research and more than half say it should receive broader federal funding
- Support for stem cell research can vary dramatically depending on question wording
- The number of Americans who say they follow the debate on stem cell research funding closely has significantly increased...
Public Agenda uses several indicators to judge when survey results should be reported and used cautiously:
- Results change when survey questions are reworded slightly.
- Results change when implications or trade-offs of a policy are pointed out.
- Results may be misleading if reported in isolation or out of context.
- Other research suggests that people have incomplete or inaccurate knowledge in this area.
