Anne McLaren and the Human Embryo Research Debates in Britain, 1982–1990: Sociological Biography in the Analysis of Public Debate
type: CreativeWork
description: I describe the role of the scientist Dr Anne McLaren in the public and parliamentary debates on human fertilisation and embryology (HF&E) in Britain between 1982 and the resulting Act in 1990. A focus on McLaren’s contributions to these debates elucidates how the case in favour of embryo research was constructed. Drawing especially on the use of the contested term ‘pre-embryo’ by the pro-human embryo research lobby to describe the subject of experimentation, and the development of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) over the same time span as the debates, I show how a pro-research case was built around the idea that biology could be used towards broadly shared clinical goals. I tie this evolution of a case to McLaren’s expertise, and show how McLaren combined an authoritative scientific understanding with the idea of moral purpose and social good, necessitating a language that could reflect both. I go on to draw on McLaren’s biography, showing how she cultivated a ‘style of practice’ that relied on the non-literal translation of biological information to arrive at public consensus. I engage with several areas of literature, beginning with the literature on the HF&E debates and analyses of the use of the term ‘pre-embryo’ in science and technology studies, and feminist cultural studies. I add a more detailed description of the specific biological arguments made by the pro-research lobby and show how these reflected a shifting position for the scientist in public debate. I also contribute to material-semiotic methodologies used in feminist cultural studies by scholars such as Donna Haraway, Evelyn Fox-Keller, and Susan Squier, showing how close readings of key documents can be used to extrapolate from an individual’s life to better understand the causality of a public debate. My combined archival research and interviews with McLaren’s former collaborators leads me to foreground a particular tension around the legacy of the biological model used in the debates. I …
abstract: I describe the role of the scientist Dr Anne McLaren in the public and parliamentary debates on human fertilisation and embryology (HF&E) in Britain between 1982 and the resulting Act in 1990. A focus on McLaren’s contributions to these debates elucidates how the case in favour of embryo research was constructed. Drawing especially on the use of the contested term ‘pre-embryo’ by the pro-human embryo research lobby to describe the subject of experimentation, and the development of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) over the same time span as the debates, I show how a pro-research case was built around the idea that biology could be used towards broadly shared clinical goals. I tie this evolution of a case to McLaren’s expertise, and show how McLaren combined an authoritative scientific understanding with the idea of moral purpose and social good, necessitating a language that could reflect both. I go on to draw on McLaren’s biography, showing how she cultivated a ‘style of practice’ that relied on the non-literal translation of biological information to arrive at public consensus. I engage with several areas of literature, beginning with the literature on the HF&E debates and analyses of the use of the term ‘pre-embryo’ in science and technology studies, and feminist cultural studies. I add a more detailed description of the specific biological arguments made by the pro-research lobby and show how these reflected a shifting position for the scientist in public debate. I also contribute to material-semiotic methodologies used in feminist cultural studies by scholars such as Donna Haraway, Evelyn Fox-Keller, and Susan Squier, showing how close readings of key documents can be used to extrapolate from an individual’s life to better understand the causality of a public debate. My combined archival research and interviews with McLaren’s former collaborators leads me to foreground a particular tension around the legacy of the biological model used in the debates. I …
author: Bigg, Marieke
language: eng
keywords: Reproduction, Visual Culture, HFEA, Embryology, Developmental Biology, Reproductive Biology, In vitro fertilisation, Feminist cultural studies
license: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6c1c6684-822c-40d6-96bb-3b614af0b1ef/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2019-12-01
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:33:23Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.57928