Table 1. Research scenarios that may provoke non-welfare interest (NWI) concerns.

Develop more safe and effective abortion methods.

Develop kidney stem cells. The goal would be to grow human kidneys or other organs in a pig that could then be transplanted into people.

Develop patents and earn profits for commercial companies. Most new drugs used to treat or prevent disease come from commercial companies.

Develop stem cells that have the donor’s genetic code. Scientists might use those stem cells to create many different kinds of tissues and organs for use in medical research.

Create vaccines against new biological weapons. The government might need to develop biological weapons of its own when it does this research.

Understand the evolution of different ethnic groups, and where they come from. What they learn might conflict with some religious or cultural beliefs.

Discover genes that make some people more violent. This could lead to ways to reduce violent behavior. But if these genes are found to be more common among some racial and ethnic groups, this might increase prejudice.